The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection of bilateral lower extremity radiculopathies and an increased rating for his lumbar spine disability. The Board found that there was no evidence to support a finding of secondary service connection, and also concluded that the current ratings were appropriate.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners did not find objective evidence of a lower extremity radiculopathy due to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral lower extremity radiculopathies, lumbar spine degenerative joint disease (DDD), lumbar spine degenerative disc disease (DDD)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- January 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20006833
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for right knee strain, left hip strain, right hip arthritis, and lumbar spine degenerative disc disease as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected chronic iliotibial band syndrome of the left knee. The appeal was denied for service connection for right ear hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the issues of entitlement to earlier effective dates for RLE and LLE radiculopathy service connection awards, finding that the AOJ failed to reconsider these claims under 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(c) after receipt of relevant official service department records. The Board remanded for a VA medical opinion to determine whether the radiculopathy onset occurred prior to September 15, 1999.
- Dismissed
The appeal for earlier effective dates and initial ratings for service-connected conditions was withdrawn by the Veteran, thus these claims are dismissed.
- Denied
The Board denied an initial rating in excess of 20 percent prior to March 18, 2024, for lumbar spine degenerative disc disease (DDD) as the evidence did not support a higher rating.
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