Citation Nr: 19192516
Decision Date: 12/10/19	Archive Date: 12/10/19

DOCKET NO. 13-31 372A
DATE: December 10, 2019

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for atrial fibrillation, to include as due to exposure to selenium gas is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from December 1960 to November 1964 in the United States Air Force. The Board remanded the claim in October 2017. Unfortunately, there has not been substantial compliance with the Board’s previous remand directives; Another remand is required.  Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998).

Entitlement to service connection for atrial fibrillation, to include as due to exposure to selenium gas is remanded.

The Board previously remanded the claim to attempt to obtain in-service hospital records the Veteran identified that related to his claimed exposure to selenium gas.  It appears the Agency of Original Jurisdiction made only one request for these records to the National Personnel Records Center and not directly from Offutt Air Force Base Hospital. The claim is remanded to make furhter attempts to get the records. 

The Board also directed that a VA opinion be obtained, once the in-service hospital were obtained. The Board cannot make a fully-informed decision on the claim because no VA examiner has opined whether the Veteran’s description of his exposure to gas is at least as likley as not the etiology of his atrial fibrillation. That opinion must be obtained on remand. 

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1.  Obtain records of any inpatient treatment at Offutt Air Force Base Hospital in 1962 to 1963.  Document all requests for information as well as all responses in the claims file.

2. After completion of the above, schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any atrial fibrillation.  The examiner must opine whether it is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease, including exposure to selenium gas due to the shorting out of an internal selenium rectifier while working on an air craft inverter.  

 

 

M.E. Larkin

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	P.S. McLeod

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 This decision is not precedential, and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.