The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development, including a new examination to address the severity of his cervical spine disability and its impact on his ability to work.
The deciding factor: The March 2021 VA examination was inadequate as it did not fully assess all symptoms related to the Veteran's cervical spine disability, including any psychiatric manifestations or secondary effects.
- Claimed conditions
- Right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, Cervical spine (neck) disability, Left hip degenerative joint disease (limitation of abduction), Right knee degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 11, 2022
- Citation
- 22001411
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,217 · Granted: 46% (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 22001411.
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 Veteran's TDIU and DEA claims are remanded due to duty-to-assist errors prior to the rating decision on review. The effective date for TDIU is set at January 31, 2021, based on the last day of employment. However, the RO needs to obtain SSA records regarding earnings from July 2020 to January 31, 2021, to determine if the Veteran's employment was marginal.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a cervical spine disability with left upper extremity radiculopathy, finding that there was no evidence of an in-service injury or chronic condition. The Board concluded that the Veteran did not meet the criteria for direct service connection.
- Granted
The rating reduction from 20 percent to 10 percent for the service-connected right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy was improper, and restoration of the 20 percent rating is granted. The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for the right lower extremity peripheral neuropathy is denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability ratings for right and left upper extremity peripheral neuropathy, as well as right and left lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, were restored to their previous levels of 70%, 60%, 30%, and 30% respectively, effective from February 12, 2025.
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