The Board granted service connection for various radiculopathies and cervical spine conditions, with effective dates of March 7, 2014, but no earlier, and June 23, 2014, but no earlier. It also granted an initial rating of 30 percent from March 7, 2014, for degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine, and a 40 percent rating from June 23, 2014, for degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine.
The deciding factor: The evidence was approximately evenly balanced as to whether the Veteran's radiculopathies and cervical spine conditions arose prior to or contemporaneous with their respective claims, thus entitlement to service connection was granted with effective dates from the date of claim. The Board also found that the Veteran met the criteria for an initial rating higher than 30 percent for degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine, but not for the lumbar spine.
- Claimed conditions
- left upper extremity cervical radiculopathy, right upper extremity cervical radiculopathy, left lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve, left lower extremity radiculopathy of the femoral nerve, right lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve, right lower extremity radiculopathy of the femoral nerve, degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine, degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 5, 2025
- Citation
- A25049789
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,604 · Granted: 65% (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 A25049789.
What this means for you
A partial grant means some issues were granted while others were denied or remanded — common in multi-issue claims. Look at which issues went which way, and how each was argued.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
Your initial evaluations for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy of the sciatic nerve have been granted, but your appeal is dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed all issues on appeal as the May 2024 rating decision was a purely ministerial implementation of the April 2024 Board decision.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for cervical spinal stenosis, right upper extremity cervical radiculopathy, and left upper extremity cervical radiculopathy due to new relevant evidence submitted by the Veteran.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including a left wrist fracture, bilateral hearing loss, Type II diabetes, bilateral glaucoma, OSA, cervical disc herniation, and other musculoskeletal issues are denied.,Service connection is not established for any of the claimed conditions.
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