Citation Nr: 18146397 Decision Date: 11/01/18 Archive Date: 10/31/18 DOCKET NO. 16-09 921 DATE: November 1, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for hypertension is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s hypertension was first diagnosed in service and is at least as likely as not related to service. CONCLUSION OF LAW With resolution of reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the criteria for entitlement to service connection for hypertension have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from August 1967 to August 1969. The Board observes that the Veteran testified before the undersigned at a Boston, MA Travel Board conducted in October 2018. After reviewing the claims folder in light of the Veteran’s testimony, the Board may grant the full benefits sought on appeal under the One Touch Program which allows the Board to proceed to a decision before the hearing transcript is associated with the claims folder. 1. Entitlement to service connection for hypertension Service connection will be granted if the Veteran has a disability resulting from personal injury or disease incurred in the line of duty, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury or disease incurred in the line of duty during active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. To establish service connection, the evidence must show (1) a present disability, (2) an 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). A valid service connection claim requires competent evidence of a current disability. Boyer v. West, 210 F.3d 1351, 1353 (Fed. Cir. 2000); Brammer v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 223, 225 (1992). However, the presence of a disability at any time during the claim process – or relatively close thereto – can justify a grant of service connection, even where such disability has become asymptomatic. McClain v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 319 (2007); Romanowsky v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 289 (2013). Service connection for certain chronic disorders may be presumed where demonstrated to a compensable degree within 1 year following separation from qualifying service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. For an enumerated “chronic disease” such as hypertension shown in service (or within a presumptive period under § 3.307), subsequent manifestations of the same chronic disease at any later date, however remote, are service-connected, unless clearly attributable to intercurrent causes. See Groves v. Peake, 524 F.3d 1306, 1309 (2008). Whenever there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination of a matter, VA shall give the benefit of the doubt to the Veteran. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b). In this case, the Veteran served as a general practitioner who served as chief of the general medicine clinic where he served. See, e.g., July 1969 Certificate; November 1968 Letter. Service treatment records contain a May 1968 physical profile record indicating that the Veteran had been diagnosed with high blood pressure, although he indicated he did not have high blood pressure on his April 1969 report of medical history. Currently, the Veteran receives private medical treatment for hypertension. See, e.g., May 2015 and October 2014 Private Medical Records. The Veteran has stated that he was first diagnosed with hypertension while in service, and that he initially treated it with a low salt diet. See, e.g., October 2018 Hearing Testimony; March 2016 Substantive Appeal. He reports that he underwent diagnostic testing in service to determine whether his high blood pressure was primary or essential in nature. He recalls that an intravenous pyelogram (IVP) ruled out a kidney disorder. He also recalls that the available anti-hypertensive medications in existence in 1968 had unpleasant side-effects, and it was determined that a low salt diet was his best course of treatment at the time. The Veteran as a physician is competent to report his treatment for hypertension in service. It appears clear to the Board that complete service treatment records given the Veteran’s description of medical procedures he underwent and, as a physician, his report of informal discussions with other medical professionals about his diagnosis and course of treatment is deemed credible. Finally, as hypertension is a “chronic” disease under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a), the subsequent manifestation of hypertension after service warrants a grant of service connection per Groves. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the Board finds hypertension had its onset in service. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b). T. MAINELLI Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD C. Howell, Associate Counsel