Citation Nr: 18160057 Decision Date: 12/21/18 Archive Date: 12/20/18 DOCKET NO. 14-25 258A DATE: December 21, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for left knee instability secondary to service-connected left knee degenerative joint disease (DJD) and residuals of left ankle injury is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from November 1972 to January 1974; from June 1974 to August 1974; and from March 1976 to September 1978. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2013 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Columbia, South Carolina, which, inter alia, denied service connection for instability of the left knee. On a June 2014 VA Form 9, the Veteran’s attorney requested a Board videoconference hearing. In a June 2017 letter, VA advised the Veteran and his attorney that the hearing had been scheduled for August 2017. In August 2017, the attorney withdrew the request for a Board hearing and asked that the claim be rated on the evidence of record. Later that month, the attorney requested that the Veteran be scheduled for a new examination in light of a hearing. For reasons which are unclear, the Veteran was again scheduled for a Board videoconference hearing, to be held in November 2018. Although the Veteran and his attorney were notified of the time and place of the hearing, neither appeared and neither furnished an explanation for the failure to do so. Accordingly, the Board deems the hearing request withdrawn. 38 C.F.R. § 20.704(e) (2017). Entitlement to service connection for left knee instability secondary to service-connected left knee DJD and residuals of left ankle injury is remanded. A review of the record indicates that service connection is currently in effect for degenerative joint disease of the left knee, rated as 30 percent disabling pursuant to Diagnostic Codes 5010-5261. In this appeal, the Veteran seeks service connection for left knee instability, which he argues warrants a separate compensable disability rating from his service-connected degenerative joint disease. The Veteran was afforded a VA examination in January 2013. The examiner indicated that testing for anterior, posterior, and medial-lateral instability was negative. In June 2014, the Veteran’s attorney submitted a Disability Benefits Questionnaire which had been completed by a private physician. The Veteran endorsed instability of station, but the physician indicated that testing for anterior, posterior, and medial-lateral instability was negative. In an August 2017 letter, the Veteran’s attorney indicated that the Veteran now used a cane for ambulation due to pain and instability in his knee. She indicated that he has noticed increased instability in his knee and argued that a VA medical examination was therefore warranted. In English v. Wilkie, No. 17-2083, U.S. Vet. App. (Nov. 1, 2018), the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) held that, with respect to lateral instability as described in Diagnostic Code 5257, lay evidence not categorically less probative than medical evidence. As described above, medical examinations conducted in January 2013 and June 2014 affirmatively showed that clinical instability was not been present in the Veteran’s service-connected left knee. According to his attorney, the Veteran’s subjective instability has increased. In light of the Court’s holding and the Veteran’s recent assertions, a remand for an examination and opinion is necessary. Accordingly, the matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. The Veteran should be afforded a VA medical examination to determine the nature, etiology, and current severity of his claimed left knee instability. Access to the Veteran’s electronic claims file must be made available to the examiner for review in connection with the examination. After examining the Veteran and reviewing the record, the examiner should provide an opinion, with supporting rationale, as to the following: Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran exhibits instability of the left knee? If so, is it slight, moderate, or severe? In providing the requested rationale, the examiner must address the Veteran’s subjective reports of instability of station. (Continued on the next page)   He or she should also provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not that any current instability of the left knee (1) was incurred in service; (2) is part and parcel of the service-connected left knee degenerative joint disease (3) is caused or aggravated by any service-connected disability, to include left knee degenerative joint disease. K. Conner Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD M. Ruddy, Associate Counsel