The Board remands the Veteran's claim for service connection for a back condition, including degenerative arthritis and chronic back pain, due to incomplete evidence.
The deciding factor: Incomplete evidence necessitates further development of the claim, including obtaining Social Security records, missing VA treatment records, and records from Fort Carson Hospital.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis, lumbosacral spine with stenosis and fusion status post microdiscectomy, Chronic back pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 21, 2025
- Citation
- A25026525
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 281 · Granted: 32% (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 A25026525.
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 remands the matter for an updated Toxic Exposure Risk Activity (TERA) memo and a medical opinion to correct pre-decisional duty-to-assist error.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for lumbar spine disability, finding that her current diagnosis of degenerative disc disease is related to an in-service injury and symptomatology since separation from active duty.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim of service connection for disability manifested by chronic back pain is granted. The Board finds that the Veteran's current back disorder had its onset in service and resolves doubt in favor of the Veteran.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to unclear employment information and requests that the Veteran provide details of his employment from September 2011 to April 14, 2014. The issue of entitlement to TDIU prior to April 15, 2014 is still pending.
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