Citation Nr: 18144406
Decision Date: 10/24/18	Archive Date: 10/24/18

DOCKET NO. 17-27 482
DATE:	October 24, 2018
REMANDED
The issue of entitlement to service connection for a lung disability is remanded.
The issue of entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease status post coronary artery bypass with four grafts and permanent pacemaker implantation (heart disability) is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from January 1952 to March 1954, during the Korean Conflict.
1. The issues of entitlement to service connection for a lung disability; and entitlement to service connection for a heart disability are remanded.
The response to a February 2015 Request for Information indicated the Veteran’s service personnel and treatment records were destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center.  However, a review of the claims file does not show the Regional Office (RO) has exhausted all avenues to reconstruct his service personnel and treatment records.  See O’Hare v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 365, 367 (1991). Consequently, a remand is necessary for an attempt to reconstruct his service personnel and treatment records.
The Board will also afford the Veteran a VA examination and opinion.  
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
1. Provide the Veteran with notice of the unavailability of his complete service personnel and treatment records.  In doing so, provide him with a NA Form 13055, Request for Information Needed to Reconstruct Medical Data, and request that he provide the dates for any treatment and/or hospitalization in service for his claimed lung and heart disabilities.
2. If a response is received from the Veteran, the RO should contact the appropriate agency(ies), supply the agency(ies) with his completed NA Form 13055 and request that a search of alternate sources be conducted, to include the Surgeon General’s Office records and morning/sick reports.  
All efforts to obtain these records should be documented in the claims file.
3. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any lung disability.  The examiner must opine whether it is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.  In so opining, the examiner should address the likelihood the injury/event such as described by the Veteran caused his lung disability (i.e., indicate whether the pathology/disease process associated with the Veteran's lungs is consistent with the mechanism of injury claimed by the Veteran).
4. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any heart disability.  The examiner must opine whether it is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.  In so opining the examiner should address the likelihood the injury/event such as described by the Veteran caused his heart disability (i.e., indicate whether the pathology/disease process associated with the Veteran's heart is consistent with the mechanism of injury claimed by the Veteran).
 
 
TANYA SMITH
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	G. Suh, Associate Counsel