Citation Nr: 18139835
Decision Date: 10/01/18	Archive Date: 10/01/18

DOCKET NO. 16-14 495
DATE:	October 1, 2018
REMANDED
Service connection for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from May 1981 to December 1984.
The matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an March 2014 rating decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Paul, Minnesota, which, in relevant part, denied service connection for GERD.  Within one year of this decision the Veteran filed a new claim and requested that the RO obtain his VA treatment records.  These records were obtained, and the prior denial of service connection for GERD was confirmed and continued by the RO in an April 2015 rating decision. 
Unfortunately, remand is necessary to adjudicate the issue on appeal.
The Veteran asserts that he had GERD while on active duty.  He contends that he was diagnosed with gastroenteritis in the service; however, it was a misdiagnosis and he should have been diagnosed with GERD.  
The Veteran’s service treatment records document treatment for stomach cramps, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.  The records reflect that he was diagnosed with gastroenteritis, viral gastritis, acute gastroenteritis, acute prostatitis, and chronic bacteria prostatitis with multiple episodic flare-ups.  
The record is missing medical treatment from the Veteran’s separation from service until approximately 2010.  However, a January 2014 treatment record documents the Veteran’s complaints of chronic stomach pain possibly due to acid reflux, which developed while he was on active duty.  The record also indicates that the Veteran has been proscribed medication for his GERD.  Based on these facts, and the Veteran’s statements of ongoing symptomatology, the Board finds that a VA examination is required. 
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Contact the Veteran in order to have him identify the names and addresses of all health care providers who have treated him for the issues on appeal.  The Veteran should also be notified that he may submit evidence or treatment records to support his claim.
The Board is particularly interested any VA treatment records from the Veteran’s separation from service to 2010.
The AOJ should attempt to obtain any such records.  All efforts to obtain such records should be documented in the claims folder.  All available records should be associated with the Veteran’s VA claims folder.
2. Then, the AOJ should schedule the Veteran for a VA examination to determine the nature and likely etiology of the Veteran’s GERD.  The Veteran’s claims file must be made available to the examiner.  All diagnostic testing deemed to be necessary by the examiner should be accomplished.  

The examiner should indicate whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran’s diagnosed GERD had causal origins in service or is otherwise related to the Veteran’s active duty service.  
The examiner should accept the history of symptoms provided by the Veteran as true unless the examiner provides a rationale as to why the Veteran’s recollection is affirmatively contradicted by the medical evidence. 
A clear rationale for all opinions must be provided and a discussion of the facts and medical principles involved would be of considerable assistance to the Board.
 
M. Donohue
Acting Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	T. Jones Council, Associate Counsel