The Veteran's lumbar spine disability is rated at 20 percent since July 24, 2020. The Board has remanded the case for further development regarding the period prior to this date.,The Veteran's right lower extremity radiculopathy is currently rated at 20 percent. The case was also remanded for a retroactive opinion on flare-ups during earlier examinations.,The Veteran's lumbar spine disability was previously rated at 10 percent, and the Board has now remanded this issue as well.,The Veteran’s TDIU claim is being referred to VA’s Director of Compensation Service for extraschedular consideration.
The deciding factor: The case involves multiple issues related to rating criteria and need for additional evidence regarding earlier examinations.,The Veteran's right lower extremity radiculopathy needs a retroactive opinion on flare-ups during earlier evaluations.,The Board has remanded the issue of prior ratings due to lack of information about earlier periods.,VA’s Director of Compensation Service will consider whether the Veteran's disability makes him unable to work based on his service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine disability, right lower extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 10, 2020
- Citation
- 20078131
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 20078131.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals were dismissed due to the death of the appellant. The issues related to service connection for various conditions and disability ratings.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a lumbar spine disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for miscarriage, cervical spine disability, lumbar spine disability, and right elbow disability due to insufficient examination opinions and incomplete service history verification.
- Granted
The Board has granted earlier effective dates for the grant of service connection for middle and index trigger finger/stenosing tenosynovitis of the right hand, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy. The earliest effective date is June 30, 2012, for the right hand condition and April 22, 2016, for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy.
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