The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding whether the Veteran's paraplegia is proximately due to or a result of his service-connected lumbar spine conditions, and whether it is aggravated by those conditions.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not address all relevant evidence, including a private physician’s report from June 2014 that referenced an MRI showing disc bulges compressing spinal nerves.
- Claimed conditions
- Osteoarthritis, Degenerative Disc Disease, Transverse Myelitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20068698
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.
- Partly granted
The Veteran is granted an effective date of October 21, 2019, for a disability rating of 30 percent for left knee meniscal tear, ACL tear, and osteoarthritis status post left total knee replacement.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for osteoarthritis and a neck disability, finding that the evidence does not support a causal relationship between these conditions and the Veteran's active service.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to her service-connected disabilities, which include posttraumatic stress disorder and various musculoskeletal conditions.
- Granted
The Board granted a higher level of SMC under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(t) for the Veteran's residuals of traumatic brain injury (TBI), effective March 2, 2022.
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