The Veteran's claims for increased evaluations for left lower extremity radiculopathy involving the femoral and sciatic nerves are being remanded due to a duty to assist error.
The deciding factor: An additional VA examination is needed to assess the current severity of the Veteran's service-connected left lower extremity radiculopathy.
- Claimed conditions
- left lower extremity radiculopathy involving the femoral nerve, left lower extremity radiculopathy involving the sciatic nerve
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 17, 2026
- Citation
- A26023908
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 A26023908.
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 left and right lower extremity radiculopathy involving the sciatic nerve are granted a 20 percent rating, but no higher.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand two issues: the claim for service connection for arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and the issue of a higher rating for left lower extremity radiculopathy involving the sciatic nerve. The reasons are that there were duty-to-assist errors prior to the March 2025 rating decision on appeal.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for various conditions, including hip disabilities and radiculopathies, have been granted with effective dates of November 12, 2020.,Claims for earlier effective dates were denied for prostate cancer, reduction of the penis with erectile dysfunction (as secondary to prostate cancer), asthma, bilateral hearing loss, bilateral knees, hypertension, stable angina, and CFS.
- Denied
The Veteran's lumbar spine disability, left lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic), right lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic), and right lower extremity radiculopathy (femoral) disabilities have been granted increased ratings effective February 28, 2024.,The Veteran's service connection for the left lower extremity radiculopathy (femoral) disability has also been granted effective February 28, 2024. However, an earlier effective date is denied as there was no evidence of entitlement prior to this date.
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