Citation Nr: 19106934
Decision Date: 01/29/19	Archive Date: 01/29/19

DOCKET NO. 14-28 939A
DATE:	January 29, 2019

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a heart disability, to include mitral valve prolapse (heart disability) is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served in the United States Air force from May 1971 to April 1973 and in the United States Marine Corps from August 1976 to September 1976.

By way of background, the Board notes the Veteran’s claim for entitlement to service connection for a heart disability was denied in a November 2016 Board decision, which determined that the evidence submitted by the Veteran was not new and material.  The Veteran subsequently appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (the Court) and in a June 2017 Joint Motion for Remand (JMR), the Court vacated the Board’s decision and returned the claim to the Board for further appellate action as directed.  The Veteran’s claim was most recently before the Board in August 2017, at which time the Board reopened the Veteran’s claim for entitlement to service connection for a heart disability and remanded the Veteran’s claim for entitlement to service connection for further development.  

 While the Board sincerely regrets the additional delay, additional development is required before the Veteran’s claim may be adjudicated on the merits. 

1. Entitlement to service connection for a heart disability, to include mitral valve prolapse (heart disability) is remanded.

Pursuant to the Board’s August 2017 remand, the Veteran was afforded a VA examination in connection with his claim for entitlement to service connection for a heart disability, to include as due to alleged herbicide exposure.  The VA examiner was also asked to address the note on the Veteran’s April 1973 separation examination where the heart is checked as abnormal with the following statement: “Split S2. Rolling quality – probably functional” and whether or not this could have been the beginning manifestations of the Veteran’s current heart disability or whether or not the Veteran’s heart condition began within one year of discharge from active duty.  The Veteran contended that he was unable to join the Marine Corps in 1976 due to a heart defect, but the March 2018 VA examiner indicated that the record did not support that and therefore, there was no evidence of a heart disability until 1993. 

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

1. Obtain any outstanding VA and private treatment records and associate them with the Veteran’s claims file. 

2.  Upon the receipt of any outstanding records, provide the Veteran’s claims file to the medical personnel who completed the Veteran’s March 2018 heart VA examination for an addendum opinion.  If the March 2018 VA examiner is unavailable, the Veteran’s claims file should be provided to the appropriate medical personnel for an addendum opinion.  The Veteran’s entire claims file, to include a copy of this remand, should be provided to the examiner.  Following a complete review of the record, the examiner is asked to provide the following addendum opinion: 

a.  Based on the recently obtained service treatment records which indicate that the Veteran was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation in September 1976, is it at least as likely as not that the “Split S2. Rolling quality- probably functional” notation on the Veteran’s April 1973 separation examination represented the early onset of the Veteran’s mitral valve prolapse? 

 

Michael J. Skaltsounis

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	P. Daugherty, Associate Counsel