Citation Nr: 18152133
Decision Date: 11/21/18	Archive Date: 11/20/18

DOCKET NO. 13-33 625
DATE:	November 21, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection of degenerative joint disease of the left knee is remanded.
Entitlement to service connection of degenerative joint disease of the right knee is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from November 1963 to November 1967, and from July 1968 to July 1984.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2011 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
As a matter of background, this issue previously came before the Board in July 2015, at which point the Board remanded the claim for further development.  Then in September 2016 the matter returned and the Board denied the claims on appeal. The Veteran appealed the Board’s September 2016 decision to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) and in March 2018 the Court vacated and remanded the Board’s prior decision for compliance with the order of the Court.  
During the pendency of the appeal to the Court, the Veteran also perfected an appeal to the Board regarding the denial of service connection of a kidney disability.  While perfection of an appeal gives the Board jurisdiction over that issue, the Veteran requested a hearing before a Veterans Law Judge with regard to that claim, which has yet to be scheduled.  As such, the Board will not take jurisdiction over that claim at this time to allow for the requested hearing.  
In December 2014, the Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.  A transcript of that hearing is of record.  
1. Entitlement to service connection of degenerative joint disease of the left knee is remanded.
2. Entitlement to service connection of degenerative joint disease of the right knee is remanded.
As noted above, the Board previously denied the claims on appeal in a 2016 decision.  That decision was based upon a January 2015 medical opinion.  The Court has found issue with that medical opinion and requested that the Board send the claim back for clarification.  Particularly, the Court found issue with the examiner’s conclusion that the Veteran’s post-service occupation was not “physically demanding” and that physically demanding work would show severe degenerative changes, if it was undertaken.  Essentially, the Court found that relying on post-service, strenuous physical work as negative evidence would only make sense if x-ray evidence in this case showed severe degenerative changes.  However, in this case, the Veteran did not have such changes upon x-ray.  Therefore, the rationale given by the examiner did not match the facts of this case.  As such, and addendum opinion has been ordered by the Court.
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
1. Request that the Veteran submit any additional evidence in support of his claim.
2. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran’s left and right knee disabilities are at least as likely as not related to active service.  If the examiner finds that the Veteran’s right knee disability is related to service, he or she  should also opine whether it is at least as likely as not that his left knee disability was caused or aggravated by his right knee disability.  In rendering this conclusion, the examiner should tailor the opinion to discussion of facts in evidence, in this case, that the Veteran had engaged in physically demanding activity with knee bending following service and has not shown severe degenerative changes in his knees following service.  
 
Eric S. Leboff
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M. Pryce, Associate Counsel