Citation Nr: 18146279 Decision Date: 10/31/18 Archive Date: 10/30/18 DOCKET NO. 14-38 449A DATE: October 31, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to a compensable rating left knee extension from December 6, 2013 is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The appellant is a Veteran who served on active duty from June 1980 to March 1988. This matter is before the Board on appeal from a July 2011 rating decision, which assigned a single 30 percent rating for the Veteran’s postoperative left knee disability. Entitlement to a compensable rating for limitation of left knee extension from December 6, 2013 is remanded. A September 2014 Decision Review Officer decision assigned separate ratings for the Veteran’s residuals of left knee injury, as follows: limited flexion rated 0 percent from April 10, 2013 to December 6, 2013, and 30 percent from that date (with intermittent periods of temporary total evaluations); painful scar, status post anterior cruciate ligament repair, left knee rated 10 percent from April 10, 2013; and limited extension rated 50 percent from April 10, 2013 to December 6, 2013, and 0 percent from that date. A February 2015 rating decision discontinued the original single 30 percent evaluation effective April 10, 2013, the date on which the separate ratings were assigned. The Veteran’s November 2014 substantive appeal limited the appeal to the matter of the “staged” 0 percent rating for limitation of extension from December 6, 2013. He asserts a 50 percent (or higher) rating is warranted. In February 2015, the Veteran underwent left knee scope with subtotal medial meniscectomy and chondroplasty medial and patellofemoral compartments. The complete clinical records relating to the surgery (all pre-surgical evaluations/consultations, complete records pertaining to the surgery, and the records pertaining to any post-surgical convalescence) are not associated with the claims file, but are pertinent/critical evidence that must be secured. Furthermore, considering the February 2015 surgery, the most recent [December 2013] VA examination no longer reflects the current status of the left knee disability. A contemporaneous examination to assess the disability is necessary. The matter is REMANDED for the following: 1. The AOJ should ask the Veteran to identify all providers of private evaluations or treatment he has received for his left knee since December 2013, and to submit authorizations for VA to secure for the record complete updated clinical records of all such treatment and evaluations, in particular complete records of evaluations and treatment leading up to the February 2015 surgery, the records pertaining to that surgery, and records pertaining to post-operative convalescence. The AOJ should obtain for the record complete clinical records outstanding from all sources identified. 2. The arrange for an orthopedic examination of the Veteran to ascertain the current nature and severity of his service-connected residuals of left knee injury, and specifically limitations on extension. The examiner must test the Veteran’s active motion, passive motion, and for pain with weight-bearing and without weight-bearing. The examiner should elicit information regarding the severity, frequency, and duration of any flare-ups, and the nature and degree of functional loss during flare-ups, and comment whether the accounts provided are consistent with the disability picture found on clinical evaluation. The examiner should discuss the impact of the left knee limitation of extension found on occupational functioning and activities of daily living. GEORGE R. SENYK Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD D. Schechner, Counsel