Citation Nr: 18157480
Decision Date: 12/13/18	Archive Date: 12/12/18

DOCKET NO. 13-22 188
DATE:	December 13, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for a service-connected lumbar spine disability is remanded.
Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for service-connected radiculopathy of the left lower extremity is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty with the United States Coast Guard from October 1988 to October 2009.  This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2012 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) at a hearing in December 2014. 
The issues of entitlement to initial ratings in excess of 10 percent for a service-connected lumbar spine disability and service-connected radiculopathy of the left lower extremity are remanded.
In September 2017, the Board remanded this case to reschedule VA examinations, having found that the RO notified the Veteran of the scheduled examinations at the wrong address.  The Board directed the RO to schedule the Veteran for new examinations, giving him adequate notice of the date, time, and place of the requested examination.  The Board specified that a copy of the notification letter must be associated with the Veteran’s claims file.  These new examinations are necessary because the Veteran has asserted that his disabilities have worsened.  See Palczewski v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 174, 181-82 (2007); Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400, 403 (1997). 
An October 2017 report of general information form notes that phone calls and letters were sent to the Veteran, but that no response was received.  An October 2017 note in the Veteran’s file indicates the peripheral nerves examination was cancelled because the Veteran failed to R.S.V.P.  However, there is no copy of the letter sent to the Veteran in the claims file, nor does the report of general information adequately document the attempts made to contact the Veteran by phone.  
Therefore, another remand is necessary for the RO to provide adequate notice to the Veteran of new examinations.  See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998) (remand by Board confers upon claimant, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with remand order).
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
Schedule the Veteran for a new VA spine examination (with an examiner other than the examiner who performed the September 2015 VA examination) to determine the current severity of the service-connected lumbar spine disability, to include any radiculopathy of the left lower extremity and any other associated neurological impairment.
The examiner should record the results of range of motion testing for pain on BOTH active and passive motion AND in weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing.  If any of this testing is not feasible, the examiner should so state and explain why.
The Veteran must be given adequate notice of the date, time, and place of the requested examination.  A copy of the notification letter (or documentation of whichever method of communication used to notify the Veteran) must be associated with the Veteran’s claims file.  

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