The Board remands the Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for radiculopathy, right lower extremity due to an inadequate VA examination.
The deciding factor: The September 2023 VA examination is found to be inadequate and requires a new opinion on the severity of the Veteran's service-connected condition.
- Claimed conditions
- radiculopathy, right lower extremity (sciatic nerve)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 13, 2025
- Citation
- A25023443
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,960 · Granted: 36% (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 A25023443.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not preclude him from securing or following substantially gainful employment.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased evaluations of his service-connected radiculopathy, left and right lower extremities, are being remanded due to a duty to assist error in the March 2021 VA examination.
- Partly granted
The Board granted the restoration of a 20 percent rating for radiculopathy in both lower extremities and an initial 20 percent rating for left ankle degenerative arthritis, while denying a compensable rating for right hallux valgus.
- Partly granted
The Board denied increased ratings for radiculopathy in the right and left lower extremities, a compensable rating for a scar from left knee surgery, and earlier effective dates for service connection of various conditions. However, it granted a 30 percent rating for left femoral nerve radiculopathy starting June 16, 2021, and an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for left lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic nerve) from November 7, 2018.
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