Citation Nr: 19179727 Decision Date: 10/21/19 Archive Date: 10/21/19 DOCKET NO. 17-40 617 DATE: October 21, 2019 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a skin disability, to include as due to herbicide agent exposure, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from December 1967 to December 1970. This matter come before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2015 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). Service connection for a skin disability, to include as due to exposure to herbicide agents. The Veteran contends that he has a skin disability that was incurred soon after returning from active service in the Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) and/or caused by active service, to include exposure to the herbicide agent, Agent Orange (AO). The evidence of record shows that he is presumed to have had herbicide exposure as a Veteran who served in Vietnam and that he has a current skin disorder. Thus, the low threshold for obtaining a VA examination and medical opinion are met. McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79, 81 82 (2006). The Board cannot make a fully informed decision on the issue of whether the Veteran has a skin disability related to active service because VA has not yet obtained an examination or medical opinion in this matter. The Board notes that, even if the Veteran’s skin disorders do not qualify as presumptive disabilities related to herbicide agent exposure, the Veteran is not precluded from establishing service connection on a direct basis. Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1994). Therefore, to ensure that VA has met its duty to assist the Veteran, remand is necessary. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Veteran to complete a VA Form 21-4142 for all non-VA medical providers seen for skin disorder since service discharge in December 1970 to the Present. Make two requests for the authorized records from all identified sources, unless it is clear after the first request that a second request would be futile. 2. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any skin disorders. The examiner must opine whether the Veteran has any skin disabilities are at least as likely as not began during the Veteran’s active service or are related to any in service injury, event, or disease, including exposure to herbicide agents. 3. Ensure that the VA medical opinion obtained include a complete rationale for the conclusions reached. The medical opinion must support the conclusions reached with an analysis that is adequate for the Board to consider and weigh against other evidence of record; medical opinions must contain not only clear conclusions with supporting data, but also a reasoned medical explanation connecting the two. If an opinion cannot be expressed without resort to speculation, ensure that the clinician so indicates and discusses why an opinion is not possible, to include whether there is additional evidence that could enable an opinion to be provided, or whether the inability to provide the opinion is based on the limits of medical knowledge. C.A. SKOW Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board G.A. Flynn, Associate Counsel The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential, and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.