The Board has remanded the case due to inadequacies identified in prior VA examination reports and a need for retrospective medical opinions. The Veteran's lumbar spine disability will be evaluated again, including with consideration of pain during use.
The deciding factor: The Board found that additional examinations are needed to address the adequacy of prior evaluations and to provide retrospective opinions on the severity of the service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 5, 2022
- Citation
- 22067289
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 22067289.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy were denied. The Board found that no claim was received prior to July 15, 2021 and thus the proper effective date is July 15, 2021.,The Veteran also sought an earlier effective date for his left lower extremity radiculopathy, which was similarly denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for his service-connected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine is remanded due to concerns about the adequacy of a previous examination report, which did not include measurements using a goniometer.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a procedural error in failing to provide the Veteran with notice of a scheduled hearing. The Veteran must be provided with a hearing before the matter can be reconsidered.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the issue of entitlement to a Total Disability Rating Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) was not before it in its August 2024 decision. The case is now remanded for further adjudication.
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