Citation Nr: 1004124 Decision Date: 01/27/10 Archive Date: 02/16/10 DOCKET NO. 04-38 890 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania THE ISSUE 1. Entitlement to service connection for prostate cancer to include as due to exposure to Agent Orange. 2. Entitlement to service connection for erectile dysfunction to include as due to exposure to Agent Orange. REPRESENTATION Veteran represented by: Disabled American Veterans WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL Veteran ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Russell P. Veldenz, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The Veteran, who is the appellant, served on active duty from August 1968 to April 1970. This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal of a rating decision in August 2003 of a Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In August 2007, the Veteran appeared at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of the hearing is in the record. The appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management Center in Washington, DC. REMAND The Veteran contends that he developed prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction due to exposure to Agent Orange. In August 2007, the Veteran testified that while aboard the USS Ranger (CVA-61), he was stationed off the coast of Vietnam. He also stated that following a fall, he was treated at a hospital in the Philippines and in December 1969 he flew in a military medical evacuation plane from the Philippines with a stop in Saigon, Vietnam, before continuing to the United States. In February 2009, the Board remanded the case and asked that the RO obtain the Veteran's service personnel records and the Veteran's in-patient records from the hospital at Clark Air Force Base in the Republic of the Philippines. The RO completed the requested additional development. The records confirm the Veteran was transferred from the USS Ranger and was evaluated at the Clark Air Force Base hospital for a seizure disorder. The records show that the Veteran was discharged from the hospital on the day after Christmas and sent to the United States for a Medical Board. As the additional records confirm part of the Veteran's account and as VA will make as many requests as are necessary to obtain relevant records from a Federal department or agency unless VA concludes that the records sought do not exist or that further efforts to obtain those records would be futile, the case is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the proper Federal custodian for any record of a military flight for medical evacuations leaving Clark Air Force Base on or about December 26, 1969, and whether such flights routinely stopped over in Vietnam before continuing on to the United States. If the records do not exist or further efforts to obtain the records would be futile, notify the Veteran in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(e). 2. After the development requested is completed, adjudicate the claims. If any benefit sought remains denied, provide the Veteran and his representative a supplemental statement of the case and return the case to the Board. The Veteran has the right to submit additional evidence and argument on the matter 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. 2009). _________________________________________________ George E. Guido Jr. 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) (2009).