The Veteran's claim for an effective date prior to October 26, 2020 for right lower extremity radiculopathy is denied.,The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for cold injury residuals of the right foot and left foot are remanded.,The Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 20 percent for right lower extremity radiculopathy is remanded, as well as his claim for an initial rating in excess of 20 percent thereafter.,The Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for low back strain with degenerative disc disease prior to October 26, 2020, and in excess of 20 percent thereafter is remanded.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea is remanded.
The deciding factor: The effective date will be either the date of receipt of the new (i.e., reopened) claim or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later. In this case, the later of the two dates is the date entitlement arose, which is the first date the Veteran was found to experience right lower extremity radiculopathy - October 26, 2020.,The Board failed to discuss whether these reports would constitute a higher rating for 'locally impaired sensation' under 38 C.F.R. § 4.104, Diagnostic Code 7122.,The effective date is October 26, 2020. The Board previously remanded the Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 20 percent for right lower extremity radiculopathy to determine the appropriate effective date and if an increase was warranted at any point during the appeal period.,The examiner selected the checkbox indicating that passive range of motion testing either could not be done or was unnecessary without providing any additional information. The Board finds this insufficient compliance with its previous remand instructions.,The December 2021 examination to determine the nature and severity of the Veteran's sleep apnea is inadequate due to an inaccurate factual premise, as stated in Reonal v. Brown.
- Claimed conditions
- right lower extremity radiculopathy, cold injury residuals of the right foot, cold injury residuals of the left foot, low back strain with degenerative disc disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 14, 2022
- Citation
- 22057891
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 22057891.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals were dismissed due to the death of the appellant. The issues related to service connection for various conditions and disability ratings.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a lumbar spine disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability.
- Granted
The Board has granted earlier effective dates for the grant of service connection for middle and index trigger finger/stenosing tenosynovitis of the right hand, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy. The earliest effective date is June 30, 2012, for the right hand condition and April 22, 2016, for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy.
- 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.
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