The Veteran's request to reopen his claim of service connection for a back injury is granted. The Board also remanded the issue of service connection for lumbar spine disability due to insufficient evidence.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner’s opinion was inadequate as it did not discuss the lay statements regarding ongoing pain since the time of the in-service fall.
- Claimed conditions
- back injury, lumbar spine degenerative disc disease (DDD), lumbar stenosis
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 19, 2021
- Citation
- 21009119
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 21009119.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for lumbar spine degenerative arthritis and DDD, as well as right and left lower extremity radiculopathy secondary to the now service-connected lumbar spine condition. The decision is based on a finding of relative equipoise in the evidence regarding whether these conditions are related to service.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for lumbar spondylosis and stenosis, finding that there is at least a 50/50 balance of evidence to support his claim due to continuity of symptoms since service.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection of various conditions as secondary to left ankle condition due to an improper concurrent election in a previous appeal.
- Dismissed
The appeal has been dismissed due to the death of the Appellant, and no decision can be made on the underlying claims.
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