The Board remanded the veteran's claims for higher disability ratings due to inadequate VA examinations. The veteran will receive new evaluations.
The deciding factor: The Board found that adequate VA examinations are necessary to accurately assess the severity of these disabilities throughout the appeal period.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the lumbar spine, left lower extremity (sciatic nerve) radiculopathy, left lower extremity (femoral nerve) radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2025
- Citation
- A25004738
Veterans Law Judge
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 A25004738.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and an initial disability rating in excess of 20 percent prior to March 2, 2017, and in excess of 40 percent thereafter for degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the lumbar spine. The evidence did not establish a nexus between current hearing loss or DJD of the lumbar spine and service.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including left and right eye dry eyes, cataracts of the left and right eyes, neuropathy of the left lower extremity, radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, left renal arteriovenous malformation, aneurysm, pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB), degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the lumbar spine, recurrent subluxation of the left knee prior to May 13, 2020, left total knee replacement, disability rating in excess of 60 percent from September 1, 2021, forward for left total knee replacement, DJD of the right knee, right knee instability, burns of the bilateral ankles, linear scar of the left knee, post-surgical tender scars of the left knee, and a total disability rating due to unemployability (TDIU) based upon service-connected disabilities prior to June 14, 2019.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for right upper extremity neuropathy, to include as secondary to a right elbow condition and denied increased ratings for the Veteran's service-connected disabilities. The Board also remanded several claims for further development.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and earlier effective dates, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating or an earlier effective date.
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