The Veteran's claim for service connection for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine is granted.,The Veteran's claim for secondary service connection for right lower extremity radiculopathy due to his service-connected degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine is granted.,The Veteran's claim for secondary service connection for left lower extremity radiculopathy due to his service-connected degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine is denied.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is remanded.
The deciding factor: The evidence is in at least approximate balance as to whether the Veteran has continuously experienced symptoms of his degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine since his period of active service, and the Board resolves this approximate balance in favor of the Veteran.,The weight of the evidence is persuasively against a finding that the Veteran has a current diagnosis of left lower extremity radiculopathy.,VA must consider all lay and medical evidence of record. The absence of evidence is not substantive negative evidence, but an opinion which relies solely on the absence of documented care for any period of time, without additional medical rationale, will be considered inadequate on its face.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 16, 2023
- Citation
- A23032546
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 A23032546.
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 claim for increased ratings for degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine and lumbar spine was granted with effective dates of May 13, 2019.
- Granted
The Veteran's degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine was diagnosed during service and has continued since then. The Board granted service connection for this condition based on continuity of symptomatology.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded due to inadequate examinations and the need for a retrospective opinion regarding the severity of his service-connected lumbar spine disability.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's low back disability, diagnosed as degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine, is related to service and granted service connection for this condition.
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