The Board remands the claim for service connection of a lumbar spine condition to correct an AOJ pre-decisional error in not obtaining an adequate medical opinion regarding the Veteran's back disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's failure to opine as to whether the Veteran's back disability resulted from or was aggravated by his reported in-service marching and physical activities constitutes an AOJ pre-decisional error, requiring a remand to correct it.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine condition
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2025
- Citation
- A25022763
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,088 · Granted: 33% (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 A25022763.
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 has granted the Veteran's claims for service connection for a left shoulder condition and a lumbar spine condition, finding that these conditions first manifested in service and are related to his military service.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for left shoulder condition, left knee condition, lumbar spine condition (as secondary to left knee condition), right knee condition (as secondary to left knee condition), posttraumatic stress disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea (secondary to service-connected disabilities with obesity as an intermediary step).,The Board found the evidence persuasive in favor of granting service connection for these conditions.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection of tinnitus, anxiety disorder, left hamstring tear, bilateral hearing loss, left knee condition, and lumbar spine condition due to improper concurrent election.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases of acute intermittent tension headaches and lumbar spine condition for further action due to errors in notice.
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