Citation Nr: 18151676
Decision Date: 11/20/18	Archive Date: 11/19/18

DOCKET NO. 13-13 831
DATE:	November 20, 2018
REMANDED
Service connection for a right shoulder disability is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from May 1968 to February 1970 in the United States Marine Corps.  He served in combat in Vietnam, and was awarded the Purple Heart and Combat Action Ribbon.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2011 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).
In February 2014, the Veteran testified before the undersigned during a videoconference hearing.  A transcript of the hearing is included in the electronic claims file.  
In September 2017, the Board denied the claim.  The Veteran appealed the Board's decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).
In June 2018, Court vacated the Board’s September 2017 decision and remanded the matter to the Board for development consistent with the parties' Joint Motion for Remand (Joint Motion).  
The decision was vacated because the Board relied on a January 2017 VA examination report that the parties found was inadequate.  Specifically, the parties found that the examiner’s rationale was based, in part, on the premise that there was no evidence of a right shoulder injury in service, despite the Board’s acceptance of in-service combat injuries to the right shoulder.  The parties directed the Board to obtain another medical opinion by an orthopedist. 
On remand, the RO must also request records from Methodist Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and any updated treatment records from the VA Medical Center in Memphis, in accordance with November 2018 correspondence from the Veteran.
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Obtain the Veteran’s VA treatment records from the VA Medical Center in Memphis dated since February 2017.
2. Ask the Veteran to complete a VA Form 21-4142 for Methodist Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Make two requests for the authorized records from the facility unless it is clear after the first request that a second request would be futile.
3. Schedule the Veteran for an examination to address the nature and etiology of his right shoulder disability. 
The examination should be performed by an orthopedist, if possible, pursuant to the Court’s Joint Motion for Remand. The examiner is directed to accept the in-service incurrence of the Veteran’s combat-related right shoulder injuries, regardless of any lack of documentation of such injuries in the service treatment records.
Specifically, the Veteran reports that he injured his right shoulder in 1968 during a foot pursuit in which he tackled someone and fell down a 20-foot ravine, landing on the road below.  He later also dislocated his shoulder while throwing a hand grenade.
The examiner must opine on whether it is at least as likely as not that the current right shoulder disability is related to an in-service injury, event, or disease, including the in-service combat injuries to the right shoulder.  
 
 M. Tenner
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	J. Smith, Counsel