The Board has ordered a remand for the Veteran to undergo an examination regarding his service-connected thoracolumbar spine disability due to missed VA examination and lack of updated treatment records.
The deciding factor: The Veteran did not appear for the scheduled VA examination, and there is no indication that either the Veteran or his representative were notified of the date, time, or location of the examination.
- Claimed conditions
- arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19193143
Veterans Law Judge
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19193143.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine and arthritis of the cervical spine, attributing these conditions to a motor vehicle accident in 1977 during active service.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine, finding that the Veteran's symptoms were consistent with known facts and circumstances of service.
- Granted
The veteran's rating for back disability was restored to 40 percent because the evidence did not show improvement during flare-ups.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for headaches as secondary to service-connected allergic sinusitis. The issues of whether the character of discharge and service connection for psychiatric disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep apnea, arthritis of the cervical spine, and arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine are remanded.
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