The Veteran's radiculopathy of the right lower extremity is rated at 20 percent, effective September 6, 2013. The Board has granted an earlier effective date of March 9, 2007 for the grant of service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's radiculopathy was secondary to his service-connected lumbar strain and thus cannot be assigned an earlier effective date than when he filed his claim for service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- radiculopathy of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- August 5, 2023
- Citation
- 23043381
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 23043381.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed all service connection claims and rating determinations due to the Veteran's withdrawal of his appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for low back disability and radiculopathy of the bilateral lower extremities due to a failure to provide adequate reasons or bases in the November 2024 decision as to whether the pre-decisional duty to assist had been satisfied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the AOJ's decision denying eligibility for the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) is not supported by adequate reasoning and must be remanded to allow for a thorough review, including obtaining medical opinions on whether it is in the best interest of the Veteran to participate in the PCAFC program.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities due to conflicting information in the VA-contracted examination report, which requires clarification on the current severity of the service-connected disabilities without considering diabetic neuropathy. The Veteran is not service-connected for diabetic neuropathy.
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