The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a thoracolumbar spine disorder and remanded the issue of secondary service connection for a left knee disorder. The case is now back with the RO for further development.
The deciding factor: The evidence does not support a finding that the current thoracolumbar spine disorders are related to active service, including due to an in-service injury or disease.
- Claimed conditions
- Thoracolumbar spine disorder, Left knee disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 17, 2020
- Citation
- 20073695
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 961 · Granted: 20% (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 20073695.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the initial ratings assigned for psoriatic arthritis of the upper and lower extremities, as well as service connection for a cervical spine disorder, need to be remanded due to incomplete evidence. The Veteran's periods of active duty for training (ADT) and inactive duty for training (IDT) must be confirmed, and all relevant medical records should be obtained.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to insufficient evidence and need for further examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases of service connection for left and right knee disorders due to procedural errors. The Veteran's claims are not yet decided.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the Veteran's right and left knee disorders may have existed prior to service, but further examination is needed to determine if they were aggravated by an in-service injury.
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