The Board remands the claims for a cervical spine disability and lumbar spine disability as further development is needed to obtain an adequate medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations are found to be inadequate due to their conclusory nature, lack of discussion on etiology, and failure to consider all relevant evidence of record.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine, Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the cervical spine, Cervical radiculopathy, Neck pain (cervicalgia), Stiffness of the cervical spine, Lumbar radiculopathy, Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine, Arthritis of the lumbar spine, Intervertebral disc syndrome (IVDS) of the lumbar spine, Vertebral compression fractures of the thoracic spine, Bilateral sciatica
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2025
- Citation
- A25091061
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 835 · Granted: 22% (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 A25091061.
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 Veteran's claim for increased ratings for degenerative arthritis of the cervical spine and lumbar spine was granted with effective dates of May 13, 2019.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for DDD and central canal stenosis of the lumbar spine, finding that the appellant's current disability is at least as likely caused by his in-service injury.
- Granted
The Board has granted separate ratings of 30 percent for left upper extremity cervical radiculopathy and 40 percent for right upper extremity cervical radiculopathy, effective March 16, 2017.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar and cervical spine are being remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. The AOJ is directed to obtain an addendum medical opinion that addresses the extent of flareups experienced by the Veteran.
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