The Board has found pre-decisional duty to assist errors and the claim must be remanded for a new VA examination to obtain information necessary to properly adjudicate the service connection claim.
The deciding factor: There are pre-decisional duty to assist errors, specifically regarding the etiology of the Veteran's claimed back disability. The examiner is asked to address whether the Veteran's diagnosed condition is a congenital defect or not and if it was aggravated by service beyond its natural progression.
- Claimed conditions
- back disability, including lumbosacral sprain, spondylolysis, and spondylolisthesis
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 14, 2022
- Citation
- A22025360
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 A22025360.
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
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