The Board remands the claims for an increased rating of the lumbar disability and secondary service connection for a right lower extremity disability to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
The deciding factor: A medical opinion is needed to address the progression of the Veteran's symptoms as he reported using over-the-counter medications and progressed to prescription medications and cortisone injections, and to determine if there is any currently diagnosed right lower extremity disability related to his service-connected lumbar disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine, with degenerative arthritis and strain, Right lower extremity disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 20, 2025
- Citation
- A25025882
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 926 · 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 A25025882.
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.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection of a right lower extremity disability and left lower extremity radiculopathy, as well as her eligibility for specially adapted housing. The decision also granted her eligibility for special home adaptation due to permanent total service-connected disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for hypertension, warts, and bilateral lower extremity disabilities due to errors in creating an adequate TERA memorandum and failure to obtain a TERA nexus opinion. The VA RO is required to create a new TERA memorandum considering all possible TERAs, including those related to Persian Gulf service, asbestos exposure at Fort McClellan, and the Veteran's MOS. A new TERA nexus opinion must be obtained for each of these disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that additional medical opinions are needed to properly address the Veteran's claim for compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 due to his cervical spine surgeries, as there were gaps in the reasoning provided by the examiner regarding whether the disability was aggravated or unforeseeable.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matters for further development, including obtaining adequate medical examinations to determine the Veteran's current level of disability and whether there is loss of use of both feet or legs.
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