The Board remands all claims for a VA examination to determine the relationship between each claimed disability and service or another service-connected condition.

The deciding factor: The AOJ did not provide the Veteran with a VA examination before the January 2023 rating decision on appeal, which is required under McLendon v. Nicholson standards.

Claimed conditions

cervical spine disability causing cervicothoracic pain, chronic headaches, lumbar spine disability causing pain, left lower extremity radiculopathy to include as secondary to a lumbar spine disability, left upper extremity radiculopathy as secondary to a cervical spine disability, right upper extremity radiculopathy as secondary to a cervical spine disability, acquired psychiatric disorder to include persistent depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

None in this decision

Decision date

December 1, 2025

Citation

A25103238

Want to see how appeals like this one tend to go? Appeals like mine