Citation Nr: 18159003
Decision Date: 12/18/18	Archive Date: 12/18/18

DOCKET NO. 10-33 196
DATE:	December 18, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for a lower back disability, to include as secondary to service-connected residuals of hypoesthesia of the left lateral cutaneous nerve and/or residuals of a left fibula fracture, is remanded.
Entitlement to a compensable disability rating for residuals of a left fibula fracture, is remanded.
 
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from December 1966 to December 1970.
These matters come before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 1999 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  
These claims were previously before the Board in July 2017, at which time they were remanded for additional development.
Back, Left Fibula Fracture
In July 2017, the Veteran indicated that his most up-to-date address was in Florida.  Pursuant to the July 2017 Board remand, the Veteran was scheduled for VA examinations in September 2017 using the Florida address, but he did not report.  In October 2017, the Veteran filed a new claim using an address in Pennsylvania.  In December 2018, the Veteran’s attorney filed a brief indicating that the Veteran spends his winters in Florida, and was not properly notified of the examination.  
In light of the discrepancies with the Veteran’s address, the Board will resolve reasonable doubt in his favor and find that he was not properly notified of his pending examinations.  The Board finds that the Veteran has demonstrated good cause for not reporting for his examinations, and they should be rescheduled on remand.  38 C.F.R. § 3.655(a).  
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
1. Obtain and associate with the record all VA treatment records for the Veteran dated from June 2016 to the present.  
2. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any lower back disability.  
The examiner is asked to address each of the following:
(a.) Whether the current condition clearly and unmistakably (undebatable) preexisted the Veteran’s service.  
(b.) If the examiner finds it did clearly and unmistakably preexist service, the examiner must opine whether it was clearly and unmistakably not aggravated by service.  
(c.) If the examiner finds that it either did not clearly and unmistakably preexist service, or was not clearly and unmistakably aggravated by service, the examiner must opine whether it is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.
3. Schedule the Veteran for a new VA examination to assess the current severity of his service-connected residuals of a left fibula fracture.  
The examiner must test the Veteran’s active motion, passive motion, and pain with weight-bearing and without weight-bearing.  The examiner must also attempt to elicit information regarding the severity, frequency, and duration of any flare-ups and after repeated use over time, and the degree of functional loss during flare-ups and after repeated use over time.  To the extent possible, the examiner should identify any symptoms and functional impairments due to the disability alone and discuss the effect of the Veteran’s disability on any occupational functioning and activities of daily living.  If it is not possible to provide a specific measurement or an opinion regarding flare-ups and after repeated use over time, symptoms, or functional impairment without speculation, the examiner must state whether the need to speculate is due to a deficiency in the state of general medical knowledge (no one could respond given medical science and the known facts), a deficiency in the record (additional facts are required), or the examiner (does not have the knowledge or training).
 
C. BOSELY
Acting Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	A. Daniels, Associate Counsel