The Board remands the claim for a lumbar spine degenerative joint disease to remedy pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including obtaining additional evidence and scheduling an examination.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary due to insufficient medical evidence regarding the etiology of the Veteran's back disability in relation to his service-connected disabilities and obesity.
- Claimed conditions
- Lumbar spine degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 31, 2025
- Citation
- A25009230
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,614 · Granted: 35% (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 A25009230.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and denied increased ratings for left shoulder, right knee, and left knee replacement conditions. However, the Board granted a 10 percent rating for the left knee scar and a 30 percent rating for the lumbar spine degenerative joint disease.
- Dismissed
The appeals for ratings and effective dates associated with frostbite of the left and right feet, as well as lumbar spine degenerative joint disease, were dismissed. The issues related to knee limitations and TDIU are remanded.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for the right ankle sprain and granted higher ratings for lumbar spine degenerative joint disease, with an effective date of May 28, 2019.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the case to obtain new VA opinions regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected PTSD and lumbar spine degenerative joint disease caused or contributed to his death.
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