The Board remands the claim for a lumbar spine disability to obtain additional medical records and an addendum opinion.
The deciding factor: The AOJ did not substantially comply with previous remand directives by failing to inform the Veteran of its inability to obtain relevant records from Tustin Air Force Base Hospital and Long Beach Naval Hospital, as required under 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(e).
- Claimed conditions
- mild degenerative disc disease of the L2-L3 vertebrae
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 18, 2024
- Citation
- 24031975
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.
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