Citation Nr: 18140794
Decision Date: 10/05/18	Archive Date: 10/05/18

DOCKET NO. 16-11 460A
DATE:	 
ORDER
Entitlement to an additional (i.e. 2nd) clothing allowance for use of a left knee brace is granted.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran wears a VA provided custom hinged left knee brace due to his service-connected left knee disorder, which causes more damage to clothing than the wearing of only his right knee brace.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for entitlement to an additional (2nd) clothing allowance for the use of a left knee brace have been met.  38 U.S.C. § 1162 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.810 (2017).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
1. Entitlement to an additional (i.e. 2nd) clothing allowance for use of a left knee brace.
The January 2016 decision on appeal granted the Veteran a clothing allowance based on his use of a right knee brace.  The decision denied an additional (2nd) clothing allowance the Veteran claimed for his use of a left knee brace.  The Veteran appealed the denial of the additional clothing allowance.  
A clothing allowance is available if the Under Secretary for Health or a designee certifies that a veteran, because of a service-connected disability or disabilities, wears or uses a qualifying prosthetic or orthopedic appliance (e.g. brace).  See 38 C.F.R. § 3.810(a)(1)(ii).
A Veteran can be eligible for more than one annual clothing allowance for orthopedic appliances that affect a single garment when each orthopedic appliance satisfies the requirements of paragraph (a)(1) of section 3.810; and together tend to wear or tear a single type of article of clothing or irreparably damage a type of outer garment at an increased rate of damage to the clothing or outer garment due to the added effect of the second orthopedic appliance.  38 C.F.R. § 3.810 (a)(2)(i-ii).
The VHA denied the Veteran an additional (2nd) clothing allowance for his left knee noting that, although the VA provided a right knee brace due to arthritis, service-connection is not in effect for arthritis of the left knee as it was not prescribed for a service connected disability.  The Board notes that the Veteran has service connection and a 10 percent rating in effect for left knee chondromalacia.  The record reveals that VA has provided the Veteran a custom hinged knee brace for left knee disability.  Since the Veteran has service-connection in effect for a left knee disorder and since VA has provided the Veteran a custom brace for his left knee disorder, the Board finds that the left knee brace is required for a service-connected disability.  The medical evidence does not indicate that the Veteran has any left knee symptoms that can be distinctly attributable to nonservice-connected disability.   
Also, there is no evidence of record tending to indicate that the two braces (one on each knee) do not result in more damage to clothing than one brace alone.  Accordingly, resolving any reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, an award of an additional (2nd) clothing allowance for the left knee brace is warranted.  38 C.F.R. § 3.810(a)(1)(ii).

 
G. A. WASIK
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	R. E. Jones, Counsel