The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and an earlier effective date are remanded due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors. The Board requests a retrospective medical opinion regarding the severity of his lumbar spine disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and status post laminectomy scar during the period from February 22, 2012, to October 25, 2020.
The deciding factor: The Board found that prior to the rating decision on appeal, there were pre-decisional duty to assist errors regarding obtaining private treatment records and a retrospective medical opinion was needed to assess the Veteran's disability during the period of appeal.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease and Degenerative Disc Disease of the Lumbar Spine, Left Lower Extremity Radiculopathy (Sciatic Nerve), Scar, Status Post Laminectomy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 1, 2024
- Citation
- A24071067
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,240 · Granted: 28% (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 A24071067.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's low back disability is rated at 40 percent, and his left and right lower extremity radiculopathy are each rated at 40 percent. The issues of increased ratings for these conditions have been granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's left and right lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic nerve) have been granted increased disability ratings of 20 percent, effective April 22, 2024.,The Veteran's left and right lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic nerve) have been granted increased disability ratings of 20 percent, effective April 22, 2024.
- Granted
The Veteran's initial ratings for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine and radiculopathies of both lower extremities have been granted, with effective dates from December 3, 2020, to October 7, 2024.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) secondary to the Veteran's service-connected sleep myoclonus, but denied increased ratings and earlier effective dates for other conditions.
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