The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates and increased ratings are being remanded due to the need for a new VA examination.
The deciding factor: A new VA examination is required to assess the current severity of the Veteran's service-connected bilateral hip disabilities, including any flare-ups or repetitive use limitations.
- Claimed conditions
- Right Sciatic Radiculopathy, Left Hip Disability (limitation of extension), Right Hip Disability (limitation of extension)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 1, 2023
- Citation
- A23034179
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 A23034179.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for right and left knee, cervical spine, lumbar spine, and sciatic radiculopathy disabilities but denied increased ratings for the psychiatric disorder and other conditions.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 40 percent rating for the lumbar spine disability and a 20 percent rating for left, right sciatic radiculopathy, and left, right femoral radiculopathy. The claims for increased ratings for left ankle and knee disabilities were denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date of May 3, 2018, for service connection for right sciatic radiculopathy is granted as the date entitlement arose was May 3, 2018. The effective date is based on the date the Veteran first reported symptoms of right sciatic radiculopathy.
- Granted
The Veteran's right sciatic radiculopathy was granted an initial rating of 20 percent, effective from the date of his death in November 2017.
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