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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation A26036185.
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.
- 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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