The Board denied service connection for a back disability and opiate use disorder, finding that the Veteran's current conditions are not related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners found no evidence of an in-service injury or disease that could be linked to the Veteran's current conditions, and there was insufficient medical evidence to establish a link between the Veteran's service-connected disabilities and his opiate use disorder.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbosacral strain and degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine (back disability), opiate use disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 8, 2021
- Citation
- 21062650
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,421 · Granted: 31% (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 21062650.
What this means for you
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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 decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder is caused or aggravated by his service-connected disabilities, specifically spinal fusion, cervical radiculopathy, and bilateral knee disabilities.
- Granted
The veteran is granted payment or reimbursement for medical services provided by Travis County Emergency Physicians on November 10, 2019. The decision was based on the criteria for emergency treatment under 38 U.S.C. § 1728 being met.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for further development due to incomplete information from the Veteran's employer regarding his employment status and the current severity of his psychiatric disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for the Veteran's lumbar spine sprain and has remanded the issues regarding PTSD with opiate use disorder. The case is now pending further development.
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