Citation Nr: 20004549
Decision Date: 01/21/20	Archive Date: 01/21/20

DOCKET NO. 14-04 974
DATE: January 21, 2020

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral hand condition is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from April 1968 to April 1970.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2012 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In February 2016, the Board remanded the claim for a VA examination.

Regrettably, further remand is required, because the directives of the February 2016 Board decision were not substantially complied with. Dyment v. West, 13 Vet. App. 141, 146–47 (1999); Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998).

The February 2016 Board decision directed for a VA opinion that discussed the Veteran’s competent lay contentions that his hand symptoms began in service. An examination was provided in August 2016, but the examiner rejected the existence of early-onset peripheral neuropathy based solely on the lack of formal medical evidence of a hand condition until 2015, without discussing the Veteran’s statements that he felt numbness and tingling in his hand during service and through the years thereafter. The examiner’s failure to consider these statements renders the opinion inadequate and incompliant with the directives of the previous Board opinion, and thus a new examination must be provided. Dalton v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 23, 39, 40 (2007); Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 311 (2007); Stegall, 11 Vet. App. 268.

Accordingly, the matter is REMANDED for the following action:

1. Associate with the Veteran’s claims file any VA treatment records not already of record. 

2. Schedule the Veteran for an examination regarding the nature and etiology of a bilateral hand condition.

The examiner must take a history of the Veteran’s symptoms. 

The examiner must expressly answer all of the following:

a. Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s diagnosed vasospastic arterial disease/Raynaud’s disease began in service or within a year after the Veteran’s separation? In formulating this opinion, the examiner must consider and discuss the Veteran’s statements at the Board hearing and in his VA Form 9 that he had tingling and numbness in his hands while in service.

b. Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s diagnosed polyneuropathy/peripheral neuropathy began in service or within a year after the Veteran’s separation? In formulating this opinion, the examiner must consider and discuss the Veteran’s statements at the Board hearing and in his VA Form 9 that he had tingling and numbness in his hands while in service.

c. Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s currently diagnosed polyneuropathy/peripheral neuropathy is due to his exposure to herbicide agents? (This question should be independently considered without regard to whether the condition manifested within one year of service separation.)

d. For any other hand condition diagnosed, is the condition at least as likely as not related to the Veteran’s service, to include exposure to herbicide agents?

3. After the above development and any other development deemed necessary is completed, readjudicate the Veteran’s claim. 

 

 

K. Parakkal

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	M. Davis, 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.