Citation Nr: 18147025
Decision Date: 11/02/18	Archive Date: 11/02/18

DOCKET NO. 16-13 341
DATE:	November 2, 2018
REMANDED
Service connection for a left ankle disability is remanded.
Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to service-connected disabilities is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from May 1985 to February 1993.
A Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical opinion has not been obtained in connection with the Veteran’s left ankle disability claim.  The Veteran asserts that he injured his left ankle during military service.  In December 2012 the Veteran was diagnosed with bilateral ankle instability.  In an August 2014 statement another service member reported that he was stationed with the Veteran in Germany in March 1990 and noticed the Veteran had a cast on his left foot.  He reported that the Veteran told him that he had fractured his left ankle playing basketball.  To support his claim the Veteran submitted a photograph of himself; he asserts that the photograph shows him wearing a cast on his left foot.  See September 2014 Statement.  Accordingly, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) finds that a remand is necessary to obtain a medical opinion regarding the likely cause of the left ankle disability.  See McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79, 83 (2006).  
The Board finds that the TDIU issue is inextricably intertwined with the issue of service connection for a left ankle disability.  See Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180, 183 (1991).  Therefore, it must be addressed before the Board can adjudicate the TDIU issue on appeal.
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
1. The claims file should be sent to an appropriate examiner to offer an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the current left ankle disability is related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.  In offering the opinion, the examiner is asked to consider the current diagnosis for bilateral ankle instability and the Veteran’s reports that he injured his left foot in service during a game of basketball and that he had to wear a cast on his left foot as a result.  
2. The need for an examination is left to the discretion of the examiner.  A rationale for all opinions offered is requested as the Board is precluded from making any medical findings.
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3. After the service connection claim is adjudicated, or contemporaneous with such adjudication, readjudicate the claim for entitlement to a TDIU based on the entirety of the evidence.  If any benefit sought on appeal remains denied, the Veteran and his representative should be furnished with a supplemental statement of the case and be given the opportunity to respond.
 
VICTORIA MOSHIASHWILI
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M. Gonzalez, Associate Counsel