Citation Nr: 0032025 Decision Date: 12/07/00 Archive Date: 12/12/00 DOCKET NO. 94-19 790 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for degenerative arthritis of the shoulders. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Sean Kendall, Attorney at Law WITNESSES AT HEARING ON APPEAL Appellant and [redacted] ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. A. Markey, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from July 1981 to September 1992. This matter came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from an April 1993 decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Louisville, Kentucky that denied the veteran's claim of entitlement to service connection for degenerative arthritis of the shoulders. A notice of disagreement was received in November 1993. A statement of the case was issued in March 1994. A substantive appeal was received from the veteran in April 1994. A hearing was held before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at the RO in St. Petersburg, Florida in September 1996 (subsequent to the April 1993 decision, the veteran relocated to Florida, and his file was transferred to this RO). The Board, in a decision dated in November 1996, denied this claim. Thereafter, the veteran appealed these matters to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (hereinafter the Court). In January 1998, while the case was pending, the veteran's attorney and VA's Office of General Counsel filed a joint motion (Motion) requesting that the Court vacate the Board's November 1996 decision and remand it to the Board for further evidentiary development and readjudication. In January 1998, the Court granted the Motion, vacated the Board's November 1996 decision, and remanded the case to the Board for compliance with directives that were specified by the Court. In September 1998, the Board remanded this matter to the RO for further development and adjudication. FINDING OF FACT The evidence sufficiently demonstrates that the veteran has degenerative arthritis of the shoulders attributable to service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The veteran suffers from degenerative arthritis of the shoulders that resulted from his service on active duty. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 1131 (West 1991 & Supp. 2000); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303 (1999). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION Applicable law provides that service connection will be granted if it is shown a particular disease or injury resulting in disability was incurred or aggravated during active duty. If arthritis became manifest to a compensable degree within one year of active duty it shall be considered to have been incurred in that period of active duty. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1101, 1110, 1112, 1113, 1137 (West 1991 & Supp. 2000); 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (1999). A "determination of service connection requires a finding of the existence of a current disability and a determination of a relationship between that disability and an injury or disease incurred in service." Watson v. Brown, 4 Vet. App. 309, 314 (1993). As noted above, the veteran served on active duty from July 1981 to September 1992. April and June 1992 reports (addendums) from the Army Medical Board indicate that X-rays revealed some very mild degenerative changes involving both acromioclavicular joints. The reports of VA examinations dated in December 1992 and October 1999, which included X- rays, were negative for such changes or for any type of shoulder disability (a painful shoulder was "diagnosed" in December 1992). A independent medical evaluation was conducted, presumably at the request of the veteran's representative, in October 2000. The evaluation report from Craig N. Bash, M.D., a neuro- radiologist, was received by the Board that same month along with a waiver of initial agency of original jurisdiction consideration. See 38 C.F.R. § 20.1304 (1999). In this report, Dr. Bash initially points out that he reviewed, among other things, the veteran's service medical records, the post service medical record (to include the October 1999 examination report), and X-ray reports and films dated in February 1997 and October 1999. His impression was that an inservice shoulder injury and acquired inservice bilateral shoulder degenerative arthritis were causing the veteran's current shoulder disability. Dr. Bash noted that his review the February 1997 and October 1999 X-ray films under a "Hot Light" in fact showed degenerative changes involving both acromioclavicular joints, and that the December 1992 X-ray report was "very likely wrong because degenerative changes noted in Apr[il] 1992 could not have gone away in Dec[ember] 1992 and reappeared in Feb[ruary] 1997 and Oct[ober] 1999." In the remainder of his report, Dr. Bash went on to give additional reasons to discount the findings made on VA examination in October 1999. Taking into account the service medical records, the medical report from Dr. Bash, and the applicable law, noted above, the Board finds that, in resolving all doubt in the veteran's favor, the evidence supports the veteran's claim for service connection for degenerative arthritis of the shoulders. As such, service connection for this disability is granted. ORDER Service connection for degenerative arthritis of the shoulders is granted. LAWRENCE M. SULLIVAN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals - 4 - - 1 -