The Veteran is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due to her service-connected disabilities, and therefore, a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is granted.
The deciding factor: The evidence shows the Veteran's service-connected disabilities cause significant functional impairment that precludes her from obtaining and maintaining any form of gainful employment consistent with her education and occupational experience.
- Claimed conditions
- thoracolumbar sprain with degenerative joint disease and intervertebral disc syndrome, right hip strain, femoral acetabular impingement syndrome, and iliopsoas tendinitis (impairment), right hip strain, femoral acetabular impingement syndrome, and iliopsoas tendinitis (extension), right hip strain, femoral acetabular impingement syndrome, and iliopsoas tendinitis (flexion), left knee strain, tendonitis, and patellofemoral pain syndrome, right knee strain, tendonitis, and patellofemoral pain syndrome, sciatic radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, femoral radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, sciatic radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, femoral radiculopathy of the left lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 23, 2025
- Citation
- A25054050
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 915 · Granted: 38% (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 A25054050.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The appeal of the proposed reduction in disability rating for lumbar decompression and fusion with lumbosacral strain is dismissed. The Veteran's initial higher disability ratings for sciatic radiculopathy of both lower extremities are denied, but he is granted a TDIU.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and TDIU are remanded due to a duty-to-assist error in the previous VA examination, which did not discount the ameliorative effects of her pain medication. The case is also remanded for consideration of TDIU as part of the evaluation of her back disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection for sciatic radiculopathy of the bilateral lower extremities and TDIU are granted effective March 6, 2019.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for an effective date of June 10, 2021, but no earlier, for a 40 percent initial rating for service-connected lumbosacral strain with degenerative disc disease and degenerative arthritis has been granted. The effective date is based on the date of receipt of the formal claim.
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