Citation Nr: 18145483
Decision Date: 10/29/18	Archive Date: 10/29/18

DOCKET NO. 13-25 349A
DATE:	October 29, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for hepatitis C, to include as due to exposure to herbicide agents, is remanded.  
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from December 1969 to June 1972.  
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2011 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).
The Veteran testified before the undersigned via videoconference at a hearing in November 2016.  A transcript of the hearing is of record.
This case was previously before the Board.  In August 2017, the Board denied the claim of entitlement to service connection for hepatitis C.  The Veteran appealed the Board’s decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).  In an April 2018 Order, the Court granted a Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR) of the Veteran and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (the Parties) to vacate and remand the Board’s January 2017 decision, for reasons discussed in more detail below.  

Entitlement to service connection for hepatitis C  
The Parties agreed in the JMR that the Board erred when it did not require that a request for the Veteran’s full service department records be obtained before it found VA’s duty to assist was fulfilled.  
At the November 2016 Board hearing, the Veteran testified that he served as a crew chief during his service in Vietnam.  The Veteran also reported he assisted the medic on these flights and provided first aid and CPR to injured soldiers and came into contact with blood while performing CPR.  The Board rejected this testimony because the Veteran’s service records were silent for any mention of hepatitis or the claimed in-service incident.  The Parties agree that the Board failed to ensure that VA attempted to obtain the Veteran’s full service department records.  

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The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
The AOJ must attempt to obtain the Veteran’s service department records, to include the Veteran’s reported in-service incident.  All attempts to secure this evidence must be documented in the claims file, and if, after exhausting efforts to obtain the named records, they are not able to be secured and it is determined that they do not exist or that further attempts would be futile, provide the required notice and opportunity to respond to the Veteran and his representative.   
 
JAMES G. REINHART
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Norah Patrick, Associate Counsel