The Board remands the claims for increased ratings and TDIU due to an inadequate statement of reasons or bases in its previous decision.
The deciding factor: Remand is required to obtain a VA medical opinion regarding the severity of the Veteran's back disability and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy without considering the ameliorative effects of his medications.
- Claimed conditions
- L5-S1 disc rupture, status post repair, Right lower extremity (RLE) radiculopathy (sciatic nerve), Left lower extremity (LLE) radiculopathy (sciatic nerve)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 28, 2025
- Citation
- 25004235
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,240 · 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 25004235.
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 increased ratings of left lower extremity radiculopathy, and the Board has no jurisdiction to proceed with these claims.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded several issues related to the Veteran's service connection claims, including for left ankle and foot disabilities, PTSD, L5-S1 disc rupture, and resection of hemorrhoids. Additional evidence is needed, particularly from VA treatment records and SSA disability compensation records.
- 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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