The Board remands the Veteran's claim for a lower back disability to ensure substantial compliance with previous remand directives, specifically regarding an adequate medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The October 2023 and May 2024 VA examinations were deemed inadequate due to improper reliance on the absence of contemporaneous medical records and failure to properly address the Veteran's in-service back injury during combat.
- Claimed conditions
- lower back disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 30, 2025
- Citation
- 25007367
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for a lower back disability, finding that the Veteran's current condition had its onset during his service and has progressively worsened since separation.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD, effective March 8, 2023, but no earlier. Other claims were denied or remanded.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for lower back disability, right shoulder disability, and traumatic brain injury (TBI) was denied due to the untimely filing of the Board Appeal request.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for tinnitus, a lower back disability, residuals of inguinal hernia repair, residuals of umbilical hernia repair, and sinusitis. Service connection was denied for an ulcer, bilateral hearing loss, hypertension, diabetes mellitus type II, and acne.
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