Citation Nr: 18145345 Decision Date: 10/26/18 Archive Date: 10/26/18 DOCKET NO. 13-30 031 DATE: October 26, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a right leg disability is denied. FINDING OF FACT The weight of the evidence fails to establish that the Veteran has a currently diagnosed right leg disability that is the residual of an in service injury. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a right leg disability have not been met. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had military service from April 1968 to April 1970. In April 2016, the Board remanded this matter to obtain a medical opinion as to the Veteran’s injury to his right leg and to obtain service personnel records and VA treatment records. The Board finds that the July 2016 VA medical opinion is in substantial compliance with the remand directives and adequate for the purpose of rendering a decision as to the issue on appeal. Neither the Veteran, nor his representative objected to the adequacy of the examination. See Sickels v. Shinseki, 643 F.3d, 1362, 1365-66 (Fed. Cir. 2011). Moreover, neither the Veteran nor his representative has raised any issues with the duty to notify or duty to assist. See Scott v McDonald, 789 F.3d 1375, 1381 (Fed. Cir. 2015). Separately, in an April 2017 rating decision, the Regional Officer (RO) granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss, assigning a 10 percent disability rating effective August 25, 2010. This award represents a complete grant of the benefits sought with respect to entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss and, therefore, that issue is no longer in appellate status before the Board at this time. Service Connection Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). The Veteran filed a claim for service connection for torn ligaments of his right leg in August 2010. The Veteran asserts that he injured his right leg in November 1968 while stationed in Cu Chi, Vietnam. The Veteran stated that his location was hit with rocket and mortar fire at night, and while running to a bunker, he tripped in a hole and fell, and had to be pulled into the bunker by his fellow servicemembers. He recalls being in so much pain that he thought he had been hit by shrapnel, and even upon finding no blood assumed he had broken his leg. The Veteran reports he was taken to an infirmary, x-rayed, and diagnosed with torn ligaments in the right thigh region. He was placed in a cast for approximately six weeks and returned to normal duties thereafter. The Veteran reports that ever since that injury, his leg has never supported him correctly. See February 2011 Statement in Support of Claim. The Veteran states that he continues to experience pain with prolonged standing and walking uphill. See July 2016 VA Examination. Service treatment records fail to describe any in-service injury, although there are very few records beyond enlistment and separation physicals and the accompanying medical history surveys. It is noted that the Veteran did show a history of Osgood-Schlatter’s disease at enlistment physical that was of minimal concern. It is also shown that on his medical history survey completed in conjunction with his separation physical in March 1970, the Veteran specifically denied any leg or knee problems, and he also denied any broken bones. The Veteran did report having had mumps and a hernia as a child, showing that he did not categorically deny all of the items on the study, but rather took some time to complete the form. The Veteran’s lower extremities were found to be normal on his separation physical and the Veteran denied any medical problems at that time. The Veteran’s claims file is void of any claim for disability benefits or medical treatment records for approximately 40 years until his claim was received in 2010, and the Veteran has not specifically described ever receiving any medical treatment specifically for any residual of the in-service right lower extremity injury he described from his time in service. For example, in 1993, private treatment records listed several health problems, but no mention was made of any right lower extremity problem. In a list of active medical problems in October 2012, no mention was made of any residual leg injury. The Veteran has also not submitted any other evidence such as photographs of a casted leg to support his account of his in-service injury. Nevertheless, given his credible description of the injury in service, VA endeavored to obtain a medical opinion of record to assess whether the Veteran had any residual right lower extremity disability as a result of his military service. In July 2016, the Veteran was afforded a VA examination, at which the VA examiner interviewed the Veteran and reviewed the Veteran’s service treatment records, post-service medical records, and lay statements. The examiner found no documentation of any muscle injury during active duty and found no medical evidence of muscle/tendon/ligament injury as ongoing from the Veteran’s military service. The examiner noted that the Veteran’s separation examination did not mention any issues or residual pain associated with his right leg. In the Veteran’s comprehensive medical history, the first mention of any pain associated with his right leg was for his claim for service connection that was received in August 2010, approximately 42 years after the injury reportedly occurred. The examiner noted that in July 2015 the Veteran was diagnosed with peripheral artery disease of his bilateral lower extremities, which does cause pain with exertion and would overlap with any residual ligament injury. The examiner concluded that there was no functional limitation of standing or walking, and there is no atrophy, instability, or muscular loss to support a current diagnosis of a ligament/muscle injury. See July 2016 VA Examination. Of note, the Veteran has not submitted any medical evidence diagnosing a residual right leg disability from an in-service injury, and he lacks the medical training or expertise to diagnose a current right lower extremity disability or link it to an in-service injury. See Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F. 3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2007) As there is no current diagnosis of a torn ligament in the right leg or residual disability therefrom. While the Veteran may have some lower extremity problems currently, such have been bilateral in nature and related to his tobacco usage. No current disability of the right lower extremity has been linked to the Veteran’s military service, and no current disability right lower extremity disability has been diagnosed as being a residual of a torn muscle injury. Without evidence of a current disability, the criteria for service connection have not been met. The existence of a current disability is the cornerstone of a claim for VA disability compensation. The current disability requirement is satisfied when a claimant “has a disability at the time a claim for VA disability compensation is filed or during the pendency of that claim,” McClain v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 319, 321 (2007), or “when the record contains a recent diagnosis of disability prior to... filing a claim for benefits based on that disability.” Romanowsky v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 289, 294 (2013). In the absence of proof of a current disability, there can be no valid claim. Brammer v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 223, 225 (1992). Accordingly, service connection is denied. MATTHEW W. BLACKWELDER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD D. O'Reilley, Associate Counsel