Citation Nr: 18159391
Decision Date: 12/19/18	Archive Date: 12/18/18

DOCKET NO. 14-38 948A
DATE:	December 19, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for residuals of a low back injury is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran had active duty service from August 1961 to July 1963.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision issued in October 2011 by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office. In April 2017, the Veteran, his brother, and his sister-in-law testified at a Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of the hearing is of record.  
In August 2017, the Board denied the claim on appeal as well as the claims of service connection for a bilateral shoulder disorder, a bilateral leg disorder, and a left foot disorder. Thereafter, the Veteran appealed such decision only to the extent that it denied service connection for residuals of a low back injury to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In May 2018, the Court granted the Veteran’s and the Secretary of VA’s (the parties) Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR), which vacated and remanded the Board’s June 2016 decision as to such issue for action consistent with the JMPR. The case now returns to the Board for further appellate review.
Entitlement to service connection for residuals of a low back injury.
The Board finds that a remand is necessary to obtain an addendum opinion as to determine the nature and etiology of the Veteran’s back disorder. In this regard, the Veteran was afforded a VA examination in October 2011 to address such matters. However, the parties in the May 2018 JMPR found that such opinion did not adequately address the Veteran’s lay statements of record regarding the incurrence and continuity of symptomatology of his back disorder prior to his post-service work injury in 1985. Specifically, it was noted that such examiner did not address the Veteran’s statements made during his February 1983 VA examination in which he stated that he was experiencing back symptoms since his in-service back injury that occurred in 1962. Thus, the Board finds that a remand is warranted to obtain an addendum opinion that addresses such concerns. 
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
Return the record to the VA examiner who conducted the Veteran’s October 2011 back examination. The record and a copy of this Remand must be made available to the examiner. If the October 2011 VA examiner is not available, the record should be provided to an appropriate medical professional so as to render the requested opinion. The need for an additional examination of the Veteran is left to the discretion of the clinician selected to write the addendum opinion.
Following a full review of the record, the examiner should respond to the following: 
For the Veteran’s back disorder, currently diagnosed as lumbar spine degenerative joint disease, the examiner should offer an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that such disorder had its onset in or is otherwise related to the Veteran’s military service, to include his August 1962 back injury. 
In offering such opinion, the examiner must consider and discuss the lay statements of record regarding the onset of the Veteran’s back disorder and the continuity of symptomatology of such disorder. In particular, the examiner should address the Veteran’s statements made at the February 1983 VA examination indicating that he had back problems before his post-service work injury in 1985 and since his 1962 in-service back injury. 
A rationale for any opinion offered should be provided.
 
A. JAEGER
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	K. Clark, Associate Counsel