The appeal for service connection for lumbar spine conditions and bilateral lower extremity sciatica was dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The appeal must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction as the Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine degenerative disc disease (DDD), degenerative joint disease (DJD), and kissing spine syndrome (a.k.a. Baastrup's sign), bilateral lower extremity sciatica
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2023
- Citation
- 23001267
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disorder, sleep apnea, hypertension, and various musculoskeletal and skin disabilities.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for right knee strain, left hip strain, right hip arthritis, and lumbar spine degenerative disc disease as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected chronic iliotibial band syndrome of the left knee. The appeal was denied for service connection for right ear hearing loss.
- Dismissed
The Board denied the veteran's appeal for timely filing of an appeal request, dismissing the attempted appeal.
- Partly granted
The Veteran was granted an initial disability rating of 40 percent for lumbosacral strain, DJD, from December 17, 1997 to June 3, 2022, and the effective date for service connection for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy was also set at December 17, 1997. However, a higher rating or TDIU was denied.
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