The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for his cervical and lumbar spine disabilities, as well as the separate radiculopathy disabilities, are remanded. Additionally, the claim for service connection for bilateral thrombophlebitis is also remanded.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations were inadequate due to not meeting the requirements of Correia v. McDonald (2016), and there was insufficient information regarding the Veteran's thrombophlebitis disability, including its relationship to his service-connected cervical and lumbar spine disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine, Degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, Left upper extremity radiculopathy, Right upper extremity radiculopathy, Left lower extremity radiculopathy, Right lower extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 27, 2020
- Citation
- 20069553
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 was granted an effective date of July 31, 2012, for TDIU and October 22, 2012, for service connection of left and right lower extremity radiculopathy.
- Denied
The appeal for higher ratings and effective dates for various conditions was denied, with the exception of left and right lower extremity radiculopathy which were granted an earlier effective date.
- Denied
The Board denied increased ratings for various disabilities and granted earlier effective dates for service connection of scars, but denied an earlier effective date for individual unemployability.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's cervical spine disability is granted a 30 percent rating, while the lumbar and lower extremity radiculopathy claims are denied. An earlier effective date for right lower extremity radiculopathy was granted, and TDIU based on single service-connected disability is remanded.
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