Citation Nr: 20003254 Decision Date: 01/15/20 Archive Date: 01/14/20 DOCKET NO. 08-22 020A DATE: January 15, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a skin disorder of the foot, to include jungle rot, is remanded. Entitlement to an initial rating higher than 30 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prior to June 12, 2008, and a rating higher than 50 percent thereafter, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from May 1968 to August 1969. These matters arose to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from rating decisions of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Roanoke, Virginia. The Board remanded these claims for further evidentiary development in March 2013. In March 2013, the Veteran died. A May 2013 rating decision determined the Veteran’s cause of death (identified on his death certificate as coronary heart disease was presumed as due to Agent Orange exposure) and service connection for the cause of death was granted. A June 2019 VA memorandum approved the Veteran’s widow’s application for substitution and named her as the appellant in the Veteran’s Board-remanded claims. 1. Entitlement to service connection for jungle rot is remanded. 2. Entitlement to a rating higher than 30 percent for PTSD prior to June 12, 2008, and a rating higher than 50 percent following June 12, 2008 is remanded. The Board finds the claims on appeal must be remanded as the RO has not complied with the Board’s prior remand instructions. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998) (a Board remand confers upon the claimant, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with the remand order). Specifically, in its March 2013 remand, the Board instructed the RO to obtain records relating to the Veteran’s retirement, as well as outstanding VA treatment records from the Richmond, Virginia VA Medical Center dated since October 2003. The Board also requested that the Veteran be scheduled for examinations to address the etiology of his claimed foot disorder and the severity of his PTSD. The appellant has requested assistance in developing her claims, including in obtaining the Veteran’s medical records, as reflected in a July 2019 letter in which she stated that her representative had failed to assist her in obtaining the records she felt were necessary to substantiate her claims. To date, however, no attempts have been made to comply with these directives. (As the Veteran is no longer alive, retrospective medical opinions are appropriate in lieu of examinations.) The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the appellant to submit or provide the relevant information for VA to obtain records of the Veteran’s retirement in 2007 from the Railroad (Norfolk-Southern or Norfolk & Western), reportedly due to both physical and mental disability. Thereafter, make efforts to obtain these records and document all attempts. If efforts to obtain the additional records are unsuccessful, notify the appellant of this and explain any further actions VA will take regarding her claims. 2. Obtain all outstanding VA treatment records pertaining to the Veteran, to include records from the Richmond, VA VAMC dated since October 2003. If efforts to obtain the additional records are unsuccessful, make a formal finding on the unavailability of these additional records and notify the appellant of this and explain any further actions VA will take regarding her claims. (Continued on the next page)   3. Following completion of the above, submit the claims file to an appropriate VA examiner for a retrospective medical opinion regarding the nature and etiology of any skin disorder relating to the Veteran’s feet. The examiner must provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that any skin disorder relating to the Veteran’s feet had its clinical onset during active service or was related to any in-service disease, event, or injury (including walking through swamps in Vietnam). Specifically discuss the positive nexus opinion in the Veteran’s March 2010 podiatry outpatient treatment record. 4. Submit the claims file to an appropriate VA examiner to determine the severity of the Veteran’s PTSD throughout the appeal period, up to the time of his death in March 2013. LESLEY A. REIN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Ryan, 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.