The Board granted an effective date of June 17, 2019, for the award of service connection for bilateral lower extremity femoral nerve radiculopathy and bilateral lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's subjective symptoms and the positive straight leg testing in April 2021 VA examination provided sufficient evidence to establish the presence of radiculopathy as a result of his service-connected degenerative arthritis of the thoracolumbar spine, resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral lower extremity femoral nerve radiculopathy, Bilateral lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- February 21, 2025
- Citation
- A25015808
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 352 · Granted: 37% (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 A25015808.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities have precluded him from securing and following a substantially gainful occupation since April 22, 2021.
- Granted
The Veteran was granted a TDIU from March 5, 2008 to July 28, 2021 due to service-connected lumbar spine disability and bilateral lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy. The Board found that the Veteran's back disability alone prevented him from maintaining substantially gainful employment during this period.
- Granted
The Veteran's cervical spine disability is not service-connected, but his lumbar spine DDD and bladder incontinence are rated at the appropriate levels. The effective date for sciatic nerve radiculopathy has been granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining SSA records and providing proper notice regarding secondary service connection.
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