The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for lumbar radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities due to a lack of adequate VA medical examination and opinion regarding the etiology of his current disabilities. The Veteran is already service connected for lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, which he attributes as the cause of his current radicular symptoms.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there was insufficient competent medical evidence to determine the etiology of the Veteran's current lumbar radiculopathy disabilities and remanded the case for a VA examination to address this issue.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, lumbar radiculopathy of the left lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 6, 2024
- Citation
- A24023305
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 A24023305.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a failure by the AOJ to notify the Veteran of his right to a pre-decisional hearing before the AOJ.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's claimed conditions, including prostate cancer, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, type II, diabetic nephropathy and end stage renal disease with dialysis, diabetic peripheral neuropathies of various extremities, erectile dysfunction, lumbar spine strain with degenerative arthritis and intervertebral disc syndrome, and bilateral knee replacements, do not meet the criteria for service connection based on direct evidence or presumptive exposure to herbicide agents. The Board also found that there was no qualifying exposure to toxic environmental exposures during service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board is remanding the claims for service connection and effective dates earlier than March 20, 2020 due to duty to assist errors and a request for a good cause extension of time limits.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not meet the criteria for a special home adaptation grant as they do not result in anatomical loss or use of both hands, blindness in both eyes, deep partial thickness burns, full thickness or subdermal burns, or residuals of an inhalation injury.
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