The Board has determined that a remand is necessary due to the need for a VA examination in accordance with Correia v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 158 (2016). The Veteran's claim for an increased evaluation of his service-connected spondylosis L5-S1 with degenerative disc disease will be remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: The decision is based on the need to conduct a VA examination in accordance with Correia v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 158 (2016), which requires joint testing for pain on both active and passive range of motion, as well as with weight-bearing and nonweight-bearing.
- Claimed conditions
- spondylosis L5-S1 with degenerative disc disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 31, 2019
- Citation
- 19197057
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,612 · Granted: 16% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
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 19197057.
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 Veteran's claim for a higher rating for his spondylosis L5-S1 with degenerative disc disease was denied, but he received a separate 20 percent rating for right lower extremity radiculopathy.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected musculoligamentous strain, right knee, is currently rated at 10 percent and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.
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