Citation Nr: 18159303
Decision Date: 12/19/18	Archive Date: 12/18/18

DOCKET NO. 10-45 915
DATE:	December 19, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for a respiratory disorder, to include septal deviation with allergic rhinitis, is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from October 1966 to August 1968, including service in Vietnam.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2010 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  
In July 2017, the Board reopened and denied the Veteran’s claim.  The Veteran appealed that decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).  In a July 2018 Order, the Court granted a Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR) filed by the parties, and remanded the July 2017 decision back to the Board for action consistent with the terms of the joint motion.
1. Entitlement to service connection for a respiratory disorder is remanded.
The Veteran maintains that his respiratory disorder had its onset during service in Vietnam due to environmental exposures such as dust.  The July 2015 VA examiner’s opinion is inadequate, as it was rendered without consideration of Veteran’s statements as to the in-service onset of his disorder and reports of continuous symptoms since that time.  Additionally, it does not address the testimony of the Veteran’s wife, who was married to the Veteran before he went to Vietnam, that she observed noticeable breathing and sinus issues ever since his return from Vietnam.  Accordingly, a new VA examination and opinion is necessary on remand.  Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 312 (2007).
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Obtain any outstanding VA treatment records.
2. With any necessary assistance from the Veteran, obtain all outstanding relevant private treatment records.
3. Then schedule the Veteran for a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of his respiratory disorder.  The entire claims file should be made available to the examiner.  All indicated studies should be performed, and all findings should be reported in detail.  Following a review of the claims file, the examiner is asked to address the following:
(a)	Identify all respiratory disorders diagnosed just prior to and since August 2009, to include asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, allergic rhinitis, bronchospastic airways disease, episodic bronchospasm.  If any of the diagnoses are not warranted, please reconcile these findings with the diagnoses of the same in the March 2010 and June 2014 VA treatment records.  Please note that the Veteran was diagnosed with emphysema, allergic rhinitis, bronchospastic airways disease, episodic bronchospasm just before the appeal period in 2008 and 2009. 
(b)	For each disorder so diagnosed, please opine as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that such disorder had its onset in service or is otherwise related to service, to include as a result of herbicide agent exposure or any environmental exposures therein.  In addressing this question, the examiner must discuss the Veteran’s statements and testimony as to exposure to dust and breathing it in during service, sleeping in the mud during monsoon season, incurring a chest cold during service, and his assertions as to continuous symptomatology since that time, as well as the Veteran’s wife’s testimony as to an observed breathing and sinus issues since he returned from Vietnam.  If the Veteran’s reported history is discounted, the examiner must provide a reason for doing so.  The Veteran’s statements may not be discounted solely on the basis of the lack of confirmation in the medical records.  A complete rationale should be given for all opinions and conclusions expressed.
 
S. BUSH
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	S.S. Mahoney, Associate Counsel