The Veteran's claim for restoration of a 20 percent rating for his lumbar spine disability is granted. The claims for increased ratings for right and left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy are remanded, as is the TDIU claim.
The deciding factor: The reduction from 20 to 10 percent was improper due to lack of consideration of whether improvement would be maintained under ordinary conditions of life. The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not meet schedular requirements for a TDIU on a schedular basis, but the case is referred to the Director, Compensation Service, for extraschedular TDIU consideration.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic residual pain, status post trauma, lumbar region (lumbar spine disability), right lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- March 13, 2023
- Citation
- 23014869
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 23014869.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy was granted a disability rating of 40 percent, effective June 25, 2024. The decision found that the condition manifested with an incomplete paralysis of the sciatic nerve that was moderately severe.
- Granted
The Board has granted earlier effective dates of February 24, 2023 for the Veteran's 20% ratings for left and right lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy and his entitlement to TDIU.
- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's original disability ratings of 40 percent for his right and left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, effective April 1, 2021.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to a lack of a VA examination, and the need to determine if any identified recurrent lumbar spine disability had its onset during active service or is related to any incident of service. The examiner must also assess whether it is at least as likely as not that any identified recurrent lumbar spine disability is due to or the result of the cervical spine degenerative arthritis and spondylosis and other service-connected disabilities.
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