The Board granted service connection for multiple spinal conditions and a right foot disorder, effective from the date of the September 2024 rating decision.
The deciding factor: Service connection was granted based on the Veteran's competent report of recurrent symptoms and positive nexus opinions linking the disorders to his active military service.
- Claimed conditions
- disc desiccation and protrusion of the lumbosacral spine, lumbar radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, lumbar radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, spondylosis and disc bulge of the cervical spine, cervical radiculopathy of the left upper extremity, cervical radiculopathy of the right upper extremity, right foot disorder, to include right foot great toe strain, thoracic spine disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- December 17, 2025
- Citation
- A25109001
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,886 · Granted: 24% (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 A25109001.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities rendered him unable to obtain and maintain substantially gainful employment, warranting a TDIU.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a failure by the AOJ to notify the Veteran of his right to a pre-decisional hearing before the AOJ.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for lumbar and thoracic spine disorders, as these conditions are claimed to be secondary to her service-connected right knee strain and/or left knee strain. The VA will obtain additional medical opinions to determine the etiology of the Veteran's spine disorders.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's claimed conditions, including prostate cancer, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, type II, diabetic nephropathy and end stage renal disease with dialysis, diabetic peripheral neuropathies of various extremities, erectile dysfunction, lumbar spine strain with degenerative arthritis and intervertebral disc syndrome, and bilateral knee replacements, do not meet the criteria for service connection based on direct evidence or presumptive exposure to herbicide agents. The Board also found that there was no qualifying exposure to toxic environmental exposures during service.
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