Citation Nr: 18157226
Decision Date: 12/12/18	Archive Date: 12/12/18

DOCKET NO. 12-12 672
DATE:	December 12, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for a right hand and fingers disability is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty with the United States Army from September 1958 to September 1961.  This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2012 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  
This case was previously before the Board in November 2017, when it was remanded for Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) development.  The case has been returned to the Board for further appellate review.
1. Entitlement to service connection for a right hand and fingers disability is remanded.
The Veteran was afforded a VA examination for his right hand and fingers disability in January 2018, in which the examiner was directed to consider whether the disability was caused by cold weather injury to the hand during service.  The examiner based a negative etiology opinion on the Veteran’s “unremarkable” discharge physical in 1961, opining that the disability is more likely related to age and the Veteran’s prior occupation.  However, the examiner failed to provide any rationale for this opinion, and failed to address the specific allegation of cold exposure during service.  The opinion is therefore inadequate and a new examination is necessary.  See Dalton v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 23, 39-40 (2007); Buchanan v. Nicholson, 451 F.3d 1331, 1337 (Fed. Cir. 2006) (that reports of symptomatology are not supported by contemporaneous clinical evidence does not render them inherently not credible); see also Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 311 (2007) (once VA undertakes to provide an examination, it must provide an adequate one).
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
Schedule the Veteran for an examination with an appropriate clinician to determine whether the right hand and finger disability is related to the Veteran’s military service.  The claims file must be made available to and be reviewed by the examiner in conjunction with the examination.  
Following review of the claims file and examination of the Veteran, the examiner should opine whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that the disability began in or is otherwise caused by the Veteran’s active service, including the credible reports of cold exposure during service.
The examiner should address the Veteran’s lay statements regarding continuity of symptomatology since onset and/or since discharge from service.  The examiner should address any other pertinent evidence of record.
All findings must be reported in detail and all opinions must be accompanied by a clear rationale.  If any of the above issues cannot be resolved without resorting to speculation, then a detailed medical explanation as to why this is so must be provided.

 
M. HYLAND
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	K. Josey, Associate Counsel