Citation Nr: 18152618
Decision Date: 11/23/18	Archive Date: 11/23/18

DOCKET NO. 16-58 527
DATE:	November 23, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to service connection for multiple sclerosis is granted.
FINDING OF FACT
Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s multiple sclerosis manifested during the seven-year presumptive period.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for service connection for multiple sclerosis have been met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.


REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from September 1987 to September 1991.  A hearing was not requested.

1. Entitlement to service connection for multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is subject to presumptive service connection if it is shown to be manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within seven years following the Veteran’s separation from active military service.  38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307(a)(3), 3.309(a).
The Veteran is entitled to presumptive service connection for MS based on a June 2018 private medical opinion.  The private examiner notes that since 1991 the Veteran has experienced “paroxysmal spells, numbness, sensory issues in right extremities, and imbalance.”  According to the examiner, “[i]t is more likely than not that these symptoms were early manifestations of MS.”  Consistent with this, MRI studies from 2015 show “old white matter scars” that are indicative of “prior damage and MRI change related to MS.”  Thus, there is also a medical basis for relating the Veteran’s MS to active service other than his statements regarding his early symptomatology.  For these reasons, the examiner concludes that “it is at least as likely as not that [the Veteran’s] current MS is related to his military service and deployment exposures.”  The Board further notes that the examiner is the director of an MS clinic.
The June 2018 private medical opinion is probative because it is based on a review of the record and contains clear conclusions with supporting data connected by a reasoned medical explanation.  Nieves-Rodriguez v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 295, 301–02 (2008).  There is no VA medical opinion to the contrary.  On the basis of the June 2018 private medical opinion, and giving the Veteran every benefit of the 

doubt, the Board therefore finds that entitlement to service connection for MS is warranted.  
 
Michael J. Skaltsounis
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	B. Cannon, Associate Counsel