Citation Nr: 18156764 Decision Date: 12/11/18 Archive Date: 12/10/18 DOCKET NO. 17-02 244 DATE: December 11, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for right foot plantar fasciitis is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of right foot plantar fasciitis. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for right foot plantar fasciitis have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the Army from June 1994 to June 1998. Service connection for right foot plantar fasciitis Service connection may be granted where the evidence of record establishes that a particular injury or disease resulting in disability was incurred in or aggravated by active military service. See 38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. “To establish a right to compensation for a present disability, a veteran must show: “(1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service”--the so-called “nexus” requirement.” Holton v. Shinseki, 557 F.3d 1362, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2009) (quoting Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004)). The Veteran contends that he has right foot plantar fasciitis as a result of his military service. The question for the Board is whether the Veteran has a current disability that began during service or is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease. The Board concludes that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of right foot plantar fasciitis, and has not had a diagnosis of right foot plantar fasciitis at any time during the pendency of the claim or proximate to the filing of the claim. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107(b); Holton v. Shinseki, 557 F.3d 1363, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Romanowsky v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 289, 294 (2013); McClain v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 319, 321 (2007); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a), (d). The available service treatment records are silent as to any complaints or treatment for right foot plantar fasciitis. Post-service, VA and private treatment records do not show any diagnosis or treatment of right foot plantar fasciitis. The Veteran received a VA examination in February 2015 and the examiner noted a diagnosis of plantar fasciitis of the left foot, but no disability was diagnosed as to the right foot. The Board is cognizant of the recent holding in Saunders v. Wilkie which stated that, where pain causes functional impairment, a disability for VA compensation purposes exists, even if there is no underlying diagnosis. Saunders v. Wilkie, 886 F.3d 1356, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2018). In Saunders, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit essentially found that pain alone resulting in functional impairment is in fact a disability, and should not be summarily discounted as a bar to benefits based on a finding of no current diagnosis. However, even in light of Saunders, the Veteran still does not have a present disability pertaining to the right foot as not only is there an absence from the record of a current diagnosis, the 2015 VA examiner noted that there was no pain in the right foot and no functional loss for the right lower extremity including the right foot due to pain. Thus, there is no competent, credible and probative evidence of any functional loss or functional impairment due to right foot pain. The Board must weigh the medical findings with the Veteran’s lay assertions of right foot disability. While the Veteran believes he has a current right foot disability, he is not competent to provide a diagnosis in this case. The issue is medically complex, as it requires specialized medical education and skill to diagnose physical disabilities. Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1377, 1377 n.4 (Fed. Cir. 2007). Thus, the Board gives greater weight to the objective medical evidence in this case that did not find a right foot disability to include right foot plantar fasciitis. Further, as to the issue of whether there is any functional impairment of the right foot due to symptoms such as pain even in the absence of a diagnosis, the Board gives more probative weight to the competent medical evidence as described herein which is based on review of the record and examination of the Veteran. (Continued on the next page)   As the Veteran does not have a diagnosis of a right foot plantar fasciitis or functional impairment of the right foot due to pain, there is no current disability and the first element of service connection has not been met. Therefore, service connection must be denied. In reaching this decision the Board considered the doctrine of reasonable doubt; however, as the preponderance of the evidence is against the Veteran’s claim, the doctrine is not for application. Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). S. L. Kennedy Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. Freeman, Associate Counsel