Citation Nr: 18141239
Decision Date: 10/10/18	Archive Date: 10/09/18

DOCKET NO. 15-16 416
DATE:	October 10, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for hypertension, to include as secondary to service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II and herbicide exposure, is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from January 1966 to January 1968.
In October 2018, the Veteran appeared at a videoconference hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.
Entitlement to service connection for hypertension, to include as secondary to service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II and herbicide exposure, is remanded.
The Board finds that additional development is needed prior to final adjudication of the issue on appeal.  Specifically, based on statements made at the October 2018 hearing, the Board finds that there are outstanding VA treatment records that need to be associated with the claim file.  After these records are obtained, the Veteran should then be afforded a VA examination.
Accordingly, the matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. After securing any necessary consent forms from the Veteran, obtain any outstanding treatment records, to include any VA and/or private treatment records, pertaining to the issue on appeal.  All efforts to obtain these records should be documented in the claim file.  If any records could not be obtained, this should be noted in the claim file.
2. Upon completion of the above, schedule the Veteran for a VA examination to address the etiology of his claimed hypertension.  The examiner is asked to address whether it is at least as likely as not (i.e., a 50 percent or greater probability) that it was caused by the Veteran’s active duty service or, if preexisting service, was aggravated therein.
In addition, the examiner should provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (i.e., a 50 percent or greater probability) that claimed hypertension is proximately due to, or the result of, or aggravated (permanently worsened) beyond normal progression by (a) the Veteran’s service-connected diabetes mellitus, type II disability; and/or (b) his exposure to herbicides while serving in the Republic of Vietnam.
For all examinations, all necessary development should be taken.  The VA examiner should be given access to the claim file.  The examiner should state that a review of the claim file was completed.
The examiner must provide a comprehensive report including complete rationales for all opinions and conclusions reached, citing the objective medical findings leading to the conclusions.
A detailed rationale is requested for all opinions provided.
3. If upon completion of the above action the issue is denied, the case should be returned to the Board after compliance with appellate procedures.
 
 
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	K. Foster, Associate Counsel