The Board denied service connection for a lumbar spine disability, finding that the Veteran's current back conditions are not related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not show a nexus between the Veteran’s current back conditions and his military service, including handling ammo and artillery during active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- status post lumbar laminectomies, status post lumbar foraminotomies, osteoarthritic changes of the lumbosacral spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 1, 2020
- Citation
- A20017780
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,044 · Granted: 21% (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 A20017780.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the award of service connection for osteoarthritic changes of the lumbosacral spine has been granted.,The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the grant of a TDIU rating is pending and will be addressed in the REMAND portion.
- Remanded (sent back)
The case was remanded for additional development due to the need for clarification of claims and obtaining medical records.
- Denied
The veteran's claim for an effective date prior to March 21, 2000 for service connection of osteoarthritic changes of the lumbosacral spine is granted.,The veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection of moderate right lower extremity weakness and TDIU are denied as there were no pending informal or formal claims prior to March 21, 2000.,The veteran does not meet the criteria for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability prior to March 21, 2000.
- 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.
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