Citation Nr: 1304475	
Decision Date: 02/07/13    Archive Date: 02/19/13

DOCKET NO.  05-25 413	)	DATE
	)
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina


THE ISSUE

Entitlement to service connection for numbness of the back and legs and additional circulatory disorders.  


REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by:	The American Legion


ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Emily L. Tamlyn, Counsel  


INTRODUCTION

The Veteran had active duty service from July 1977 to August 1983.  

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2005 rating decision by a Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  The Board remanded the claim in October 2009 and April 2011 for additional development.  

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

The Board obtained a Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) opinion in September 2012.  38 C.F.R. § 20.901(a) (2012).  The Veteran was sent notice of this opinion in October 2012; and informed that if he submitted additional evidence in response to the opinion, he had the right to have the evidence considered by the agency of original jurisdiction in the first instance, and that he could waive this right.  

In December 2012, the Veteran sent updated VA medical records (along with copies of other VA treatment records that were already in the file) to the Board and responded that he elected to have the case remanded to the AMC for consideration of the new evidence.  

Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action: 

The AOJ should re-adjudicate the claim for service connection for numbness of the back and legs and additional circulatory disorders.  

If the decision remains in any way adverse to the appellant, he and his representative should be provided with a Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC).  The case should then be returned to the Board, if otherwise in order.  

The appellant 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 or by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) for additional development or other appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner.  See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112 (West Supp. 2012).  



_________________________________________________
Mark D. Hindin
Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals

Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the Board is appealable to the Court.  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) (2012).