The Board has found that the Veteran's service treatment records are missing and incomplete, leading to inadequate VA examinations based on incorrect factual premises. The Board is remanding the case for further development including obtaining missing STRs and providing proper notice.
The deciding factor: The STRs associated with the Veteran’s period of active duty are missing and incomplete, which has caused a cascade of problems resulting in inadequate VA examinations relying on incorrect factual premises related to the wrong serviceman's military and medical history.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis of lumbar spine, Left hip condition to include degenerative changes, Right hip condition to include degenerative changes
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 8, 2020
- Citation
- A20018116
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 A20018116.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's initial higher rating for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine is denied, and he is granted initial ratings of 40% each for peripheral neuropathy affecting both lower extremities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 50 percent for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine, as the evidence did not support a higher rating.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability ratings for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine and tension headaches were improperly reduced. The Board has reinstated these ratings to their original levels, effective August 1, 2022.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has withdrawn the issue of entitlement to a higher initial evaluation for degenerative arthritis of lumbar spine. The issue of entitlement to a higher initial evaluation for right hip strain is remanded due to lack of recent VA examination.
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