Citation Nr: 18157847 Decision Date: 12/13/18 Archive Date: 12/13/18 DOCKET NO. 16-59 408 DATE: December 13, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and claimed residuals, to include memory loss, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from July 1994 to July 2014. This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2015 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The record reflects that the Veteran submitted a timely VA Form 9, Appeal to Board of Veterans’ Appeals in May 2018 on the issues of service connection for asthma and carpal tunnel syndrome in the right arm. However, the record reflects that the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) is in the process of completing further action in the appeal. As such, the appeal of these issues is not yet ready for Board adjudication and will not be addressed further in this decision. Entitlement to service connection for TBI and related residuals is remanded. The Veteran contends that he is entitled to service connection for TBI and its residuals. Specifically, he alleges that he experienced multiple concussions during in service training with pugil sticks, line training, and in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and that he has residuals from these concussions. The Veteran was provided a VA examination in April 2015 for residuals of TBI. During this examination, the examiner concluded that the Veteran did not have any potential residuals of a TBI, including headaches, mood changes, irritability, sensory changes, ataxia, memory problems, or problems with balance. However, in his December 2015 notice of disagreement, the Veteran reported experiencing spells where he has trouble remembering things from day to day. In his December 2016 VA Form 9, he further reported experiencing symptoms of memory problems, trouble concentrating on complicated tasks, constantly needing to start over on tasks that he is in the process of completing, trouble following or staying focused on conversations, and falling asleep easily when he is not trying to fall asleep. The Veteran has indicated that his symptoms, including memory loss, occur sporadically. As the Veteran has provided competent evidence regarding symptoms he experiences subsequent to the VA examination, the Board finds that as a result of this additional evidence, the April 2015 examination is inadequate for adjudication purposes. Therefore, a VA examination must be scheduled to ascertain the nature and etiology of his condition. The record also reflects the Veteran receives VA treatment; thus, updated VA treatment records should be associated with the claims file. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain the Veteran’s VA treatment records for the period from June 2018 to the present. 2. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by a clinician qualified to conduct TBI examinations to determine the nature and etiology of the Veteran’s condition. The examiner should be requested to provide an opinion on the following: Is it at least as likely as not (a 50 percent or greater probability) that the Veteran has any residuals of a TBI incurred in service, including memory loss or difficulty concentrating? In rendering an opinion to the question above, the clinician is asked to consider the Veteran’s competent statements that symptoms, including memory loss and difficulty concentrating, occur sporadically and that he has experienced such symptoms since his service. The examiner is also asked to consider the Veteran’s statements regarding experiencing multiple injuries to the head during in service training with pugil sticks, line training, and in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. A complete rationale for all opinions must be provided. If the clinician cannot provide a requested opinion without resorting to speculation, it must be so stated, and the clinician must provide the reasons why an opinion would require speculation. The clinician must indicate whether there was any further need for information or testing necessary to make a determination. Additionally, the clinician must indicate whether any opinion could not be rendered due to limitations of knowledge in the medical community at large and not those of the particular examiner. M. SORISIO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD M. H. White, Associate Counsel