Citation Nr: 18150470
Decision Date: 11/15/18	Archive Date: 11/15/18

DOCKET NO. 16-15 013
DATE:	November 15, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to a rating in excess of 10 percent for status post right acromioclavicular joint separation is remanded.
Entitlement to a rating in excess of 20 percent for status post left ankle avulsion fracture with degenerative joint disease is remanded.
Entitlement to a total disability rating based upon individual unemployability due to service-connected disability (TDIU) is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The appellant is a Veteran who served on active duty from June 1991 to July 1995.  
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2014 rating decision by the Oakland, California, Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  
The United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (hereinafter “the Court”) has held that a claim for entitlement to TDIU is a rating theory and “not a separate claim for benefits.”  See Rice v. Shinseki, 22 Vet. App. 447, 453-54 (2009).  The TDIU issue in this case is appropriately addressed as a separate issue.  
1. Entitlement to a rating in excess of 10 percent for status post right acromioclavicular joint separation is remanded.
2. Entitlement to a rating in excess of 20 percent for status post left ankle avulsion fracture with degenerative joint disease is remanded.
3. Entitlement to a total disability rating based upon individual unemployability due to service-connected disability (TDIU) is remanded.
The Veteran contends that his right shoulder and left ankle disabilities are more severely disabling than reflected by the presently assigned evaluations. He further contends that he is unemployable as a result of these disorders.  In correspondence dated in October 2018 he asserted that they had increased in severity and requested additional VA examinations. He states that his ranges of motion have decreased since his last examination, which is now over two-and-a-half years old.
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
Schedule the Veteran for an examination of the current severity of his right shoulder and left ankle disabilities.  The examiner must test the Veteran’s active motion, passive motion, and pain with weight-bearing and without weight-bearing.  The examiner must also attempt to elicit information regarding the severity, frequency, and duration of any flare-ups, and the degree of functional loss during flare-ups.  To the extent possible, the examiner should identify any symptoms and functional impairments due to the disability alone and discuss the effect on any occupational functioning and activities of daily living.  
If it is not possible to provide a specific measurement, or an opinion regarding flare-ups, symptoms, or functional impairment without speculation, the examiner must state whether the need to speculate is due to a deficiency in the state of general medical knowledge (no one could respond given medical science and the known facts), a deficiency in the record (additional facts are required), or the examiner (does not have the knowledge or training).
 
MICHAEL A. HERMAN
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	T. Douglas, Counsel