Citation Nr: 18150750
Decision Date: 11/15/18	Archive Date: 11/15/18

DOCKET NO. 16-19 062A
DATE:	November 15, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to a clothing allowance for 2015 for a right knee brace is denied.  
FINDING OF FACT
Although the Veteran is service-connected for a right knee condition, he did not receive or begin wearing a right knee brace until January 2016.   
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for entitlement to a clothing allowance for the Veteran’s right knee brace for 2015 have not been met.  38 U.S.C. § 1162; 38 C.F.R. § 3.810.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from December 1973 to December 1975 and from March 1978 to June 1996.  
This matter is on appeal before the Board of Veterans Appeals (Board) from a January 2016 decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Biloxi, Mississippi.    
Entitlement to a clothing allowance for 2015 for a right knee brace.
The Veteran seeks a clothing allowance for 2015 for his right knee brace.  The Veteran is service-connected for a right knee disability.
Statutory law provides for payment of an annual clothing allowance for each veteran who, because of a service-connected disability, wears or uses a prosthetic or orthopedic appliance (including a wheelchair) which VA determines tends to wear out or tear the clothing of the veteran, or uses medication which a physician has prescribed for a skin condition which is due to a service-connected disability and VA determines causes irreparable damage to the veteran’s outer garments.  38 U.S.C. § 1162.
The evidence shows that the Veteran was prescribed a brace for his right knee disability but that he did not receive the brace until January 2016.  In his January 2016 notice of disagreement and April 2016 Form 9, the Veteran indicated that he did not start wearing his right knee brace in 2015 because he did not receive notification that the brace was ready for him to pick up during 2015.  He noted that he would have picked up and the brace and started wearing it during 2015 if he would have been notified that it was available.  
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The Board observes that VA treatment records indicate that the right knee brace was prescribed in June 2015 but was not actually received by the Veteran until January 2016.  A veteran cannot qualify for an annual clothing allowance for a knee brace for a particular year if he did not wear the brace during that year.  38 U.S.C. § 1162.  Consequently, as it is undisputed that the Veteran did not wear his right knee brace during 2015, the Board has no basis under the law for granting a clothing allowance for the brace for 2015.  Accordingly, the claim must be denied as a matter of law.  See also Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426, 430 (1994).
 
S. HENEKS
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Dan Brook, Counsel