The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claim of service connection for degenerative disc disease, lumbar spine (claimed as back injury) due to inadequate VA examination and failure to comply with prior remand directives.
The deciding factor: The March 2021 VA examiner failed to adequately address the December 2020 Board remand directives and provided a default opinion affirming low back strain as at least likely as not due to service, based solely on acceptance of items two through five (Veteran's lay statements).
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease, lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 17, 2026
- Citation
- A26036185
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation A26036185.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for a higher rating for degenerative disc disease, lumbar spine was dismissed due to concurrent election of review options.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for degenerative disc disease, lumbar spine, with muscle spasms; right elbow pain; and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy/ sciatica as secondary to the back disability have all been granted.
- Denied
The Board denied an earlier effective date for the grant of TDIU due to lack of factual support and found that the Veteran's unemployability was not a result of his service-connected conditions during the one-year look-back period.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, but has remanded the issue of service connection for a neck disability due to lack of examination and medical opinion.
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