The Board has remanded the cases for further development and consideration, including obtaining an addendum opinion from the VA examiner to retrospectively assess the Veteran's lumbar spine disability from January 29, 2010, through October 21, 2019.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the evaluation of the Veteran’s back disability for this retrospective period will include neurological findings which could impact the assessment of his increased rating claim for sciatic nerve impairment of the right lower extremity. Therefore, the Board deferred adjudicating this claim pending completion of the requested development.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar stenosis with degenerative arthritis, sciatic nerve impairment of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20080354
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,316 · Granted: 43% (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 20080354.
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 has determined that the Veteran's current sciatic nerve impairment of the right lower extremity did not begin during active service or is not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease. The claim for service connection is therefore denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to conflicting evidence regarding the Veteran's right lower extremity nerve impairment and a need for clarification of the diagnosis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for lumbar stenosis with degenerative arthritis and right lower extremity radiculopathy, sciatic nerve are being remanded due to the need for additional examinations and a retrospective medical opinion.
- Granted
The Veteran's TDIU is granted as of June 17, 2016 due to marginal employment. Prior to that date, his income was above the poverty level and he had been employed full-time.
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