Citation Nr: 1453545	
Decision Date: 12/04/14    Archive Date: 12/10/14

DOCKET NO.  12-29 972	)	DATE
	)
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


THE ISSUE

Entitlement to service connection for Parkinson's disease, to include as due to herbicide exposure. 


REPRESENTATION

Veteran represented by:	New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs


ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

J. Honan, Associate Counsel





INTRODUCTION

The Veteran served on active duty from July 1965 to November 1989. 

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2010 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

This appeal has been advanced on the Board's docket pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 20.900(c).  38 U.S.C.A. § 7107(a)(2) (West 2014).


FINDINGS OF FACT

1.  The evidence shows that the Veteran served in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era and has been diagnosed as having Parkinson's disease.

2.  The medical evidence shows that the Veteran's Parkinson's disease is compensably disabling.


CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for establishing service connection for Parkinson's disease have been met.  38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 1116 (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307(a)(6)(ii), 3.309(e) (2014).


REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

Determinations as to service connection will be based on review of the entire evidence of record, to include all pertinent medical and lay evidence, with due consideration to VA's policy to administer the law under a broad and liberal interpretation consistent with the facts in each individual case.  38 U.S.C.A. § 1154(a); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a).

Establishing service connection generally requires medical or, in certain circumstances, lay evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the present disability.  See Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Hickson v. West, 12 Vet. App. 247, 253 (1999); Caluza v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 498, 506 (1995), aff'd per curiam, 78 F.3d 604 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (table).  Service connection may also be granted for certain chronic diseases listed at 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a), as well as for any disease diagnosed after discharge when all of the evidence establishes that the disease was incurred in service.  38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d).

A Veteran who, during active military service, served in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era (beginning in January 1962 and ending in May 1975) shall be presumed to have been exposed during such service to certain herbicides, including a herbicide commonly referred to as Agent Orange, unless there is affirmative evidence to establish that the veteran was not exposed to any such agent during that service.  38 U.S.C.A. § 1116.

"Service in the Republic of Vietnam" includes service in the waters offshore and service in other locations if the conditions of service involved duty or visitation in the Republic of Vietnam, that is, within the land borders, including the inland waters, of Vietnam.  38 C.F.R. § 307(a)(6)(iii); Haas v. Peake, 525 F. 3d 1168, 1193-95 (Fed. Cir. 2008).  

When a Veteran develops a disorder listed in 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e), which has been shown to be caused by exposure to herbicides or Agent Orange, to a degree of 10 percent or more within the specified period, the disorder shall be presumed to have been incurred during service.  38 U.S.C.A. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307(a)(6), 3.309(e).  Diseases to which the presumption applies include Parkinson's disease.  38 U.S.C.A. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e).  The above-listed disease shall have become manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more at any time after service.  38 U.S.C.A. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307(a)(6)(ii). 

The Veteran asserts that his Parkinson's disease is due to exposure to herbicides during his service in Vietnam.  His service personnel records confirm that he had in-country Vietnam service from September 1967 to September 1968. 

VA and private treatment records reflect that the Veteran has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (see, e.g., April 2011 VA treatment note, November 2011 VA treatment note, November 2011 private treatment note).  These records also show that the Veteran has been taking medication for this condition.  A private treatment note from February 2010 listed pertinent symptoms that included tremors with hypophonia, bradykinesia, and increased muscle tone.  The Veteran's VA and private treatment records demonstrate that his Parkinson's disease has manifested to a compensable degree.      

As competent medical evidence of record shows that the Veteran has Parkinson's disease, and as the Veteran is presumed to have been exposed to herbicides as a result of his service in Vietnam during the requisite time frame, service connection is warranted for Parkinson's disease on a presumptive basis under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309.


ORDER

Service connection for Parkinson's disease is granted. 



____________________________________________
STEVEN D. REISS
Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals


Department of Veterans Affairs