The Board remanded the veteran's claim for a higher disability rating for left lumbar radiculopathy and left lower extremity radiculopathy. The Board found that the VA medical opinions were inadequate and required further review.
The deciding factor: The Board determined that the December 2022 and January 2023 VA medical opinions did not adequately address the severity of the veteran's conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- left lumbar radiculopathy associated with lumbosacral herniated nucleus pulposus at L4-L5 and L5-S1 to include myositis and low back strain, left lower extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 22, 2025
- Citation
- A25005663
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 163 · Granted: 31% (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 A25005663.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a lumbar spine disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected lumbar spine disability.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for left lower extremity radiculopathy and denied the claims for right knee disability, erectile dysfunction, GERD, sleep apnea, and hypertension. The decision is remanded for further action on these issues.
- Granted
The Board has granted earlier effective dates for the grant of service connection for middle and index trigger finger/stenosing tenosynovitis of the right hand, left lower extremity radiculopathy, and right lower extremity radiculopathy. The earliest effective date is June 30, 2012, for the right hand condition and April 22, 2016, for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran does not have left lower extremity radiculopathy or any related symptoms causing impairment in earning capacity during the appeal period, and therefore service connection for this condition is denied.
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