Citation Nr: 0814929 Decision Date: 05/06/08 Archive Date: 05/12/08 DOCKET NO. 06-28 100A ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida THE ISSUES 1. Entitlement to service connection for hearing loss. 2. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Nadine W. Benjamin, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran (appellant) served on active duty from August 1942 to December 1945. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2005 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Petersburg, Florida. The appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management Center (AMC), in Washington, DC. VA will notify the appellant if further action is required. REMAND Unfortunately, a remand is required in this case. Although the Board sincerely regrets the additional delay, it is necessary to ensure that there is a complete record upon which to decide the veteran's claim so that he is afforded every possible consideration. In correspondence received from the veteran, he indicated that he had received treatment by VA in Orlando, Florida. There is no indication that a request for VA records from the Orlando VA Medical Center has been made. It is essential that any outstanding VA treatment records be obtained and reviewed. See Bell v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 611, 613 (1992) (VA records are constructively part of the record which must be considered). Additionally, it appears that the veteran's service medical records are incomplete. The only service medical record in the file is his September 1945 separation examination report which shows that the veteran was boarded at Brooke Convalescent Hospital on August 8, 1945 and returned to temporary limited service status for 3 months in the U.S. His DD Form 214 shows that he received the Purple Heart Medal for a gunshot wound sustained in service, and he has argued that when he was wounded, he also lost his hearing from the trauma, but that it returned. (See, substantive appeal of September 2006). An attempt to locate any additional service medical records should be undertaken. Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain the veteran's medical records for hearing loss and tinnitus from the Orlando VA Medical Center. 2. Contact the National Personnel Records Center, and/or any other appropriate source, and request copies of the veteran's complete service medical records. 3. Should additional, relevant VA treatment records or service medical records be obtained, associate them with the claims file and request that the record be reviewed by a VA examiner who should offer an addendum to the September 2005 VA examination report. After a review of the claims file, including the newly associated records, the examiner should provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (a 50 percent probability or greater) that the veteran's hearing loss and/or tinnitus are related to his military service, including noise exposure. A complete rationale must be provided. 4. After completion of the foregoing, readjudicate the claims on appeal. If any benefit sought on appeal remains denied, the veteran and his representative should be provided a supplemental statement of the case (SSOC). Allow an appropriate period of time for response. The appellant has the right to submit additional evidence and argument on the matter or matters the Board has remanded. Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999). This claim must be afforded expeditious treatment. The law requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board of Veterans' Appeals or by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for additional development or other appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner. See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112 (West Supp. 2007). _________________________________________________ P.M. DILORENZO Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. This remand is in the nature of a preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board on the merits of your appeal. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (2007).