Citation Nr: 20006769 Decision Date: 01/28/20 Archive Date: 01/27/20 DOCKET NO. 14-12 414 DATE: January 28, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for migraines is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force from October 1981 to October 1985. In May 2017, the Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. Entitlement to service connection for migraines is remanded. In September 2017, the Board remanded the issue on appeal for additional development, to include the provision of a new VA examination and medical opinion. When VA provides an examination or obtains an opinion, the examination or opinion must be adequate. Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303 (2007). The February 2018 VA medical opinion is inadequate. First, it is predicated on an inaccurate factual premise. As part of the examiner’s reasoning, she finds that the Veteran’s in-service headaches were characterized by different symptomatology than his current headache disability. However, while the evidence reflects that additional symptoms have presented themselves over the years, the headaches he experienced in service and post-service occurred over the frontal and occipital lobes, were throbbing, and precipitated by blurred vision. See Reonal v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 458 (1993). Second, the examiner made an impermissible credibility finding, stating that “[i]t is most plausible that any reasonable individual would seek treatment for migraine when provided free government access to medical care.” In Sizemore v. Principi, 18 Vet. App. 264 (2004), the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) vacated a Board decision denying the appellant’s claim for service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder, finding that it was the Board’s responsibility, not the examiner’s, to make a credibility determination: “To the extent that the examining psychiatrist is expressing an opinion on whether the appellant’s claimed in-service stressors have been substantiated, that is a matter for determination by the Board and not a medical matter.” Id. “When an examiner makes factual findings and legal determinations, a new examination may be necessary ‘to remove whatever taint there may be from the examiner’s overreaching.’” Townsend v. Shinseki, No. 12-0507, 2013 U.S. App. Vet. Claims LEXIS 789, *17-18 (Vet. App. May 20, 2013). The Board finds that an addendum opinion must be rendered that is void of these deficiencies. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain all outstanding VA medical records and private medical records and associate them with the claims file. 2. After the above development has been completed from, return the claims file and this remand to an appropriate examiner. The examiner must review the claims file and this remand, and the report should indicate that review, including review of service records showing that the Veteran had no headache problems upon entrance. The examiner should consider the Veteran’s statements and other lay statements regarding onset, in-service injury, and continuity of symptomatology since service, including the Veteran’s testimony at the May 2017 video conference hearing, and the statements included in his August 2018 affidavit. Dalton v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 23 (2007). The examiner should provide a complete rationale for all opinions and conclusions and reconcile them with all pertinent evidence of record. The examiner should opine whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that any current headache disability had its onset in or was caused by the Veteran’s period of active service, or by any incident during service, to include the Veteran’s complaints of headaches and syncopal episodes. JENNIFER HWA Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board L. Bush 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.