Citation Nr: 18156805 Decision Date: 12/11/18 Archive Date: 12/10/18 DOCKET NO. 15-25 268 DATE: December 11, 2018 ORDER Service connection for right knee osteoarthritis is granted. FINDING OF FACT Affording the Veteran the benefit of the doubt, his right knee osteoarthritis is a chronic disease of which the Veteran has suffered continuity of symptomatology since his active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for right knee osteoarthritis have been met. 38 U.S.C § 1110; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active military service from August 1967 to October 1968. Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (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. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Additionally, service connection can also be established through application of a statutory presumption for chronic diseases, like arthritis, when manifested to a compensable degree within a year of separation from service. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. If a chronic disease is not manifested to a compensable degree within a year of separation of service, then, generally, a showing of “continuity of symptoms” after service is required for service connection. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (b). The Veteran has a current undisputed diagnosis of severe right knee osteoarthritis. In addition, the Veteran’s service treatment records (STRs) show that he was treated in service in May and June of 1968 for right knee pain and swelling which onset after he twisted his knee while running. In early June 1968, the Veteran was seen at a dispensary in Okinawa for an injured knee with complaints of shooting pain for weeks since he was taken off crutches. The Veteran was given a profile in June 1968 after spraining his superior patella ligament and was placed on major duty restrictions of no prolonged standing, running or exercises. While he was not diagnosed with right knee arthritis during service, knee pain is known to be a symptom of knee arthritis. The Veteran has consistently stated throughout the appeal that his right knee has been painful since he injured it in service, and he continues to experience the knee pain presently. He stated this during a VA examination in May 2015 and in written statements he submitted in support of his claim in September 2014 and in July 2015 with his formal appeal to the Board. At the May 2015 VA examination, the Veteran reported that, although his right knee swelling subsided in service, the knee continued to be painful. The Board notes that the May 2015 VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s current right knee arthritis was less likely than not related to the Veteran’s documented right knee injury in service. However, this examiner did not provide a rationale that supported the negative nexus statement, and, instead, noted that there was evidence in the Veteran’s STRs of right knee injury and consequent swelling for a prolonged period of time. The RO obtained an addendum opinion from another provider in the C&P Department of the St. Louis VA Medical Center in June 2015 to clarify the May 2015 VA examiner’s inconsistent opinion. The June 2015 VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s arthritis was not related to his in-service injury, and noted that the Veteran’s in-service right knee injury had completely resolved by June 1968, as there were no other complaints of knee symptoms in the Veteran’s STRs. This opinion ignored the Veteran’s credible lay statements of ongoing knee pain since the 1968 right knee injury. The Veteran is competent to report his left knee pain symptoms, as these observations come to him through his senses. Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 469-70 (1994). Thus, this VA examiner’s opinion ignored the Veteran’s account of his knee symptoms continuing since service, and was not based on all the facts of record. As such, the Board affords it little weight. The Board finds that the Veteran has shown a continuity of right knee arthritis symptomatology since service, which is ultimately supported by the diagnosis of a chronic right knee disability and competent lay evidence of record linking the Veteran’s current right knee symptoms to the right knee symptoms he experienced in service. As such, service connection for right knee osteoarthritis is warranted. MATTHEW W. BLACKWELDER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD C. Davidoski, Associate Counsel