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Denied

The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a lumbar spinal condition due to her failure to report for an August 2024 VA examination, and there is no competent evidence linking her current disability to her in-service complaints of back pain.

The deciding factor: The Veteran failed to attend a scheduled VA examination without providing good cause, thus depriving the Board of potentially favorable evidence that would have supported her claim for service connection.

Claimed conditions
lumbar spinal condition
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
February 24, 2026
Citation
A26016414

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 A26016414.

What this means for you

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