The veteran was granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to his service-connected thoracolumbar degenerative disc disease with lumbar spasms, IVDS, bulging disc, and spondylolisthesis.
The deciding factor: During the appeal period, the Veteran's back disability prevented him from being able to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation.
- Claimed conditions
- left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, right lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, left lower extremity femoral nerve radiculopathy, right lower extremity femoral nerve radiculopathy, thoracolumbar degenerative disc disease with lumbar spasms, intervertebral disc syndrome (IVDS), bulging disc, and spondylolisthesis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- December 1, 2025
- Citation
- A25103154
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 252 · 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 A25103154.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that there are pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors in the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for bilateral lower extremity femoral nerve radiculopathy, and thus remands the case to obtain addendum medical opinions.
- Granted
The Veteran's left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy was granted a disability rating of 40 percent, effective June 25, 2024. The decision found that the condition manifested with an incomplete paralysis of the sciatic nerve that was moderately severe.
- Granted
The Board has granted earlier effective dates of February 24, 2023 for the Veteran's 20% ratings for left and right lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy and his entitlement to TDIU.
- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's original disability ratings of 40 percent for his right and left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, effective April 1, 2021.
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