The Board remands the claims for further development, including obtaining additional medical evidence and readjudicating the claims.
The deciding factor: The August 2016, November 2021, December 2023, and August 2024 DBQs are inadequate as they do not reflect that the ameliorative effects of medication were discounted, which is required under Jones v. Shinseki.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis; degenerative disc disease; lumbosacral strain; spinal stenosis; thoracolumbar spine osteoarthritis; lumbar annular fissures at L3/L4, L4/L5, L5/S1, Radiculopathy (sciatic nerve) of the left lower extremity (LLE), Radiculopathy (sciatic nerve) of the right lower extremity (RLE), Peripheral neuropathy of the left upper extremity (LUE)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 3, 2025
- Citation
- 25012469
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,902 · Granted: 11% (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 25012469.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for further development to verify the Veteran's alleged exposure to herbicide agents during service and associate a TERA Memorandum with the record.
- Granted
The Veteran's RUE and LUE neuropathy are granted with ratings of 40 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for DMII and PN due to diabetes, but denied service connection for low back pain.
- Dismissed
The appeal for increased ratings and other benefits related to the Veteran's service-connected conditions was dismissed due to the Veteran's death before any claims were finally adjudicated.
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