Citation Nr: 1324318	
Decision Date: 07/31/13    Archive Date: 08/07/13

DOCKET NO.  11-03 760	)	DATE
	)
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center in Fargo, North Dakota


THE ISSUE

Entitlement to service connection for diabetic nephropathy with hypertension.


REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by:	Disabled American Veterans


ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

M. Riley, Counsel 


INTRODUCTION

The Veteran served on active duty from July 1991 to January 1997.  This case comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2010 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Fargo, North Dakota, which, in pertinent part, reopened and denied a claim for entitlement to service connection for diabetic nephropathy and hypertension.  

The Veteran was previously service-connected for diabetic nephropathy.  In an April 2004 rating decision, service connection was granted for diabetes mellitus with nephropathy and an initial 20 percent evaluation was assigned effective June 21, 2002.  A year later, in a May 2005 rating decision, a separate 30 percent evaluation was assigned for nephropathy with hypertension effective November 16, 2004.  Service connection for diabetic nephropathy with hypertension was then severed in a November 2006 rating decision effective February 1, 2007.  The Veteran is currently trying to reestablish service connection for the disability.

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 Veteran was scheduled for a VA examination before the Board at the Fargo RO on June 16, 2011.  A week before the hearing, the Veteran informed VA that she had moved to Georgia and requested a transfer of the hearing to a local VA office near her new address.  The record does not indicate that any action was taken on this request, and the Veteran was found to have failed to appear for the June 2011 hearing.  In February 2013, the Veteran reiterated that she still desired to testify before the Board and again asked that a hearing be scheduled at her local VA office.  The Board finds that a remand is necessary to comply with the Veteran's request for a hearing before the Board at the Atlanta RO.  

Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action:

Schedule the appellant for a hearing before a VLJ of the Board of Veterans' Appeals at the local regional office, following the usual procedures under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7107 (West 2002) and 38 C.F.R. § 20.704 (2012). 

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 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. 2012).



_________________________________________________
MILO H. HAWLEY
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) (2012).