The Board has remanded the claims for increased ratings for a low back disability and associated radiculopathy of the LLE due to incomplete retrospective opinions from a VA examiner.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner failed to comply with the Board's remand directive, which required an opinion based on estimates derived from the Veteran's reports of frequency, duration, characteristics, severity, and/or functional loss related to his low back disorder following repeated use over time and during flare-ups.
- Claimed conditions
- spinal stenosis (low back disability), radiculopathy of the left lower extremity (LLE)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 30, 2024
- Citation
- 24032382
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 749 · Granted: 28% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 24032382.
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 denied service connection for radiculopathy of the left and right lower extremities prior to November 22, 2022.,The Board has also remanded the issue of service connection for a right foot disorder.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for plantar fasciitis, radiculopathy of the left lower extremity (LLE), and radiculopathy of the right lower extremity (RLE) due to a duty to assist error in obtaining adequate opinions regarding causation and aggravation.
- Denied
The Board denied the claims for increased ratings pertaining to the Veteran's service-connected low back disability and associated radiculopathy of the LLE, except as noted for a 60 percent rating from December 2, 2023.
- Denied
The Board denied earlier effective dates for the grants of service connection and increased ratings for various disabilities.
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