Citation Nr: 18151682
Decision Date: 11/20/18	Archive Date: 11/19/18

DOCKET NO. 11-02 099
DATE:	November 20, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for bilateral frostbite of the feet and residuals is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from February 1980 to May 1980.  This period of service is considered active duty as the Veteran was disabled due to an injury incurred during it.  38 U.S.C. § 101(24)(A).  
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals on appeal from a July 2010 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  
Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) at a videoconference hearing in June 2017.  A transcript is of record.  This case was previously before the Board in December 2012, August 2016, and August 2017, when it was remanded for Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) development.  The case has been returned to the Board at this time for further appellate review.  
1. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral frostbite of the feet and residuals is remanded.  
VA scheduled the Veteran’s most recent examination at the Evansville Veterans Medical Center (VAMC), but the Veteran was not able to show up due to transportation issues and requested the appointment to be scheduled at the Louisville VAMC.  The Board finds that the Veteran has shown good cause for failing to report to the VA examination.  38 C.F.R. § 3.655.  
Accordingly, a remand is necessary in order to obtain a medical examination at the Louisville, Kentucky VAMC.  
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Schedule the Veteran for an examination, at Louisville, if possible, to determine whether any current frostbite injury residuals are related to the Veteran’s military service.  The claims file must be made available to and be reviewed by the examiner in conjunction with the examination.  If VA is unable to schedule the Veteran for the requested examination at the Louisville location, the reasons for this must be clearly documented in the record.
Following review of the claims file and examination of the Veteran, the examiner should identify all currently found frostbite residuals, including determining whether peripheral neuropathy is a frostbite residual.
For each residual identified, the examiner should opine whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that the disability began in or is otherwise the result of military service, including the reported treatment for frostbite therein.
The examiner must address the Veteran’s lay statements regarding continuity of symptomatology since onset and/or since discharge from service and may not disregard the Veteran’s contentions in this regard solely because they are not documented in his service treatment records.  The examiner must also address any other pertinent evidence of record.  
All findings must be reported in detail and all opinions must be accompanied by a clear rationale.  If any of the above issues cannot be resolved without resorting to speculation, then a detailed medical explanation as to why this is so must be provided.
 
M. HYLAND
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M. Ariasaif, Associate Counsel