The Board has determined that the Veteran's claims for increased ratings and effective dates are remanded due to inadequate VA examinations, which need to be supplemented with additional information.
The deciding factor: The previous VA examinations did not fully comply with the requirements of Correia and Sharp regarding range of motion testing and functional loss during flare-ups.
- Claimed conditions
- ankylosing spondylitis and intervertebral disc syndrome of the lumbar spine with surgical scar, radiculopathy of the right sciatic nerve
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 14, 2020
- Citation
- 20003217
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,874 · Granted: 33% (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 20003217.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals regarding earlier effective dates for various evaluations due to the appellant's withdrawal of the appeal.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of September 2, 2010, for service connection for radiculopathy of the left and right sciatic nerves but denied increased ratings for these conditions. The claims for increased ratings for knee and back conditions were remanded.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial 70 percent evaluation for the service-connected psychiatric disability and a TDIU, but denied other claims related to earlier effective dates and burial expenses.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 70 percent disability rating for major depressive disorder with primary insomnia effective December 16, 2019, and an initial 40 percent disability rating for lumbosacral strain with degenerative disc disease from June 27, 2017 through December 6, 2021.
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