The Board remands the claims for service connection for radiculopathy of the upper and lower extremities, to include as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected cervical strain and lumbosacral strain, due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error in the AOJ's failure to obtain adequate medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The remand is required due to inadequate VA opinions that did not address the possibility of aggravation or were based on an inaccurate factual premise.
- Claimed conditions
- Radiculopathy of the left upper extremity, Radiculopathy of the right upper extremity, Radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, Radiculopathy of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 7, 2024
- Citation
- A24072795
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include a mood disorder and alcohol abuse disorder, secondary to the Veteran's service-connected disabilities. The other claims for increased ratings were denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims that five prior rating decisions were products of clear and unmistakable error. The Board found that the Veteran's arguments constituted disagreements with how the Agency of Original Jurisdiction weighed evidence in final prior decisions, which cannot rise to the level of valid CUE claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for higher staged ratings and initial ratings in excess of 10 percent, 20 percent, and 10 percent for radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, right lower extremity, and residual painful surgical scar, posterior trunk respectively, to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
- Granted
The Board granted a 30 percent rating for the service-connected left upper extremity radiculopathy, effective from August 3, 2023.
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