The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for lumbar and cervical spine disabilities due to incomplete development of records, including missing service treatment records. The Veteran is presumed to have been in sound condition upon entry into active duty service, but must provide clear and unmistakable evidence that his pre-existing conditions were not aggravated during service.
The deciding factor: The Board found the need for additional development as there are no service treatment records available to determine if the Veteran's lumbar and cervical spine disabilities existed prior to service or were aggravated by service.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine disability, cervical spine disability
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 12, 2020
- Citation
- 20072923
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 Board denied service connection for various conditions, including prostate cancer and related disabilities, urinary incontinence, sleep apnea, hypertension, varicose veins, lumbar spine disability, hip arthritis, shoulder arthritis, ankle arthritis, knee strain, knee replacement, and hand arthritis. The only condition granted was a 10 percent rating for a fracture of the right proximal first metacarpal.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for multiple conditions, including bilateral hearing loss and various musculoskeletal issues, as well as an initial rating in excess of 0 percent for rhinitis. However, the Board granted a 70 percent rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 20 percent disability rating for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy from April 3, 2023 onward, but denied higher ratings prior to that date. Service connection was also granted for alcohol use disorder as secondary to PTSD with traumatic brain injury.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for right knee, right hip, and lumbar spine disabilities as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected left knee disability but denied a rating in excess of 30 percent for his left knee disability prior to April 25, 2019.
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