The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection due to errors in the pre-decisional duty to assist. The upper back condition claim is being remanded because of an inadequate opinion regarding the etiology, and a lack of VA medical records from or around 2000. The lower back disability claim is also being remanded as there was no direct service connection opinion obtained.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the opinions provided were inadequate to address the Veteran's lay statements about in-service injuries and did not consider all relevant STRs, including those from his Air Force Reserve period of service. Additionally, VA medical records from or around 2000 are needed for consideration.
- Claimed conditions
- upper back (cervical or neck condition), lower back (lumbar spine) disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 23, 2024
- Citation
- A24068453
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,062 · Granted: 34% (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 A24068453.
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 Veteran withdrew his appeals for service connection for a lower back disability, a higher rating for right knee injury with traumatic arthritis, and an earlier effective date for scar on the right knee. The Board dismissed these issues as a result.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for depression, right shoulder disability, lower back (lumbar spine) disability, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and right ear hearing loss due to potential service connection issues.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
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