The Veteran's claim for a 40 percent disability rating for degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine is granted, effective June 5, 2013. The effective date for service connection for left and right lower extremity sciatic neuritis secondary to diabetes mellitus is also set at June 5, 2013.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms of sciatic neuritis were noted prior to his claim in June 2013, and the VA examiner opined that they were secondarily service-connected due to a pre-existing lumbar spine condition. The effective date is set at the earliest date of ascertainable increase.
- Claimed conditions
- Left lower extremity sciatic neuritis, Right lower extremity sciatic neuritis, Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 15, 2024
- Citation
- A24065957
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 622 · Granted: 17% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation A24065957.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy were denied. The Board found that no claim was received prior to July 15, 2021 and thus the proper effective date is July 15, 2021.,The Veteran also sought an earlier effective date for his left lower extremity radiculopathy, which was similarly denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for his service-connected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine is remanded due to concerns about the adequacy of a previous examination report, which did not include measurements using a goniometer.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a procedural error in failing to provide the Veteran with notice of a scheduled hearing. The Veteran must be provided with a hearing before the matter can be reconsidered.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the issue of entitlement to a Total Disability Rating Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) was not before it in its August 2024 decision. The case is now remanded for further adjudication.
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