Citation Nr: 18154614 Decision Date: 12/03/18 Archive Date: 11/30/18 DOCKET NO. 16-54 460 DATE: December 3, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for bronchitis is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran has not demonstrated evidence of current bronchitis. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for bronchitis have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1154 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from November 2010 to April 2015. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2015 rating decision issued by RO. The Veteran filed a Notice of Disagreement (NOD) with the assigned ratings for left plantar fasciitis, hypertension, lumbosacral strain and closed fracture of the thumb as well as denial of service connection for chronic bronchitis, broken ribs 1 mm fracture and irritable bowel syndrome. In a January 2016, the RO granted service connection for broken ribs 1mm fracture and assigned a noncompensable rating effective April 3, 2015. Therefore, his appeal concerning the issue of service connection for broken ribs 1mm fracture has been resolved. See Grantham v. Brown, 114 F.3d 1156 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (where an appealed claim for service connection is granted during the pendency of the appeal, a second NOD must thereafter be timely filed to initiate appellate review of the claim concerning the compensation level assigned for the disability). The Statement of the Case (SOC) addressing the remaining issues, assigned ratings for left plantar fasciitis, hypertension, lumbosacral strain and closed fracture of the thumb as well as denial of service connection for chronic bronchitis and irritable bowel syndrome, was issued in July 2016. In his October 2016 Substantive Appeal, the Veteran indicated that he was only appealing the issue of the denial of service connection for chronic bronchitis. Accordingly, that is the only issue remaining on appeal before the Board. This appeal was processed using the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) paperless claims processing system. 1. Entitlement to service connection for bronchitis Service connection may be established for disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty in the active military, naval, or air service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131. Establishing service connection generally requires (1) evidence of a current disability; (2) evidence of in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) evidence of a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the present disability. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004); see also Caluza v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 498, 506 (1995), aff’d per curiam, 78 F.3d 604 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (table); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection may also be granted for any injury or disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease or injury was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination of a matter, the VA shall give the benefit of the doubt to the claimant. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b). The Veteran contends that he has bronchitis that onset during his period of service. A June 2010 service treatment record reflects that the Veteran complained of a three-day history of a cough that was productive of green mucus. He also complained of nasal congestion. On examination, the assessment was bronchitis. Findings of September 2014 chest x-ray were normal. A March 2015 service treatment record telephone consult reflects that the Veteran received private treatment in February 2015 for bronchitis. He requested that a referral be placed in the system for the private treatment visit. The assessment was bronchitis. After service, the October 2015 report of VA respiratory conditions examination documents the Veteran’s complaint of an acute history of bronchitis with a resolution of symptoms with treatment. The examiner remarked that there was no objective evidence of record to support a diagnosis of a chronic condition and indicated that the current examination was normal. The claim of service connection for bronchitis must be denied. Congress has specifically limited entitlement to service connection for disease or injury to cases where such incidents have resulted in disability. See 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131. Here, the Veteran has presented no evidence of, nor does probative evidence show that the Veteran has current bronchitis. Thus, there can be no valid claim for service connection. See Gilpin v. West, 155 F.3d 1353 (Fed. Cir. 1998); Brammer v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 223, 225 (1992). The Veteran is not competent to link his claimed bronchitis to service. Competent lay evidence means any evidence not requiring that the proponent have specialized education, training, or experience. Lay evidence is competent if it is provided by a person who has knowledge of facts or circumstances and conveys matters that can be observed and described by a lay person. 38 C.F.R. § 3.159. Lay evidence may be competent and sufficient to establish a diagnosis of a condition when: (1) a layperson is competent to identify the medical condition (i.e., when the layperson will be competent to identify the condition where the condition is simple, for example a broken leg, and sometimes not, for example, a form of cancer); (2) the layperson is reporting a contemporaneous medical diagnosis, or; (3) lay testimony describing symptoms at the time supports a later diagnosis by a medical professional. Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F. 3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2007); see also Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2009) (where widow seeking service connection for cause of death of her husband, the Veteran, the Court holding that medical opinion not required to prove nexus between service connected mental disorder and drowning which caused Veteran’s death). The Veteran is not competent to establish that he has current bronchitis. The Veteran is not competent to diagnose or offer opinion as to etiology of any current bronchitis. The question regarding the diagnosis and etiology of such a disability is a complex medical issue that cannot to be addressed by a layperson. For these reasons, his allegations are non-specific and are no more than conjecture and do not rise to the type of evidence addressed by Jandreau. (Continued on the next page)   The claim of entitlement to service connection for bronchitis must be denied. The preponderance of the evidence is against the claim and the benefit-of-the-doubt doctrine is not applicable. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49, 53-56 (1990). Vito A. Clementi Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD G. Jackson, Counsel