Citation Nr: 20007124 Decision Date: 01/28/20 Archive Date: 01/28/20 DOCKET NO. 14-21 952 DATE: January 28, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 40 percent for degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints, to include whether the Veteran is entitled to an extended temporary total rating under 38 C.F.R. § 4.30 for convalescence for the period from September 1, 2013 to February 19, 2014 and past April 1, 2014, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from August 1986 to September 1995. He testified at a June 2017 hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. He dismissed his representative in a December 2018 statement and is now pro se. The Board notes that this matter was last before it in May 2018, whereupon it remanded the present issue as well as the issue of entitlement to special monthly compensation (SMC) for housebound status for the period from September 1, 2013 to February 19, 2014 and past April 1, 2014. Thereafter, in a December 2018 rating decision, the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) granted SMC at the housebound rate effective February 16, 2013. This represents a full grant of the SMC benefits previously on remand and so the Board will not address the question of entitlement to SMC benefits in this current decision. As for the question of entitlement to an increased rating for degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints, the Board notes that in the prior May 2018 remand it instructed the AOJ to schedule the Veteran for a VA spine examination and specifically secure opinions regarding both the current severity of the intervertebral disc syndrome as well as the severity of the condition retrospectively during the periods immediately following the May 2013 and February 2014 spinal surgeries. Upon receipt of the case, the AOJ secured an October 2018 opinion that addressed the current severity of the degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine; however, the examiner did not provide the requested retrospective opinions regarding the severity of the condition following the aforementioned spinal surgeries, although he did review some of the pertinent evidence corresponding to these two periods of time. This must be corrected on remand. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Return the record to the VA examiner who issued the October 2018 examination and opinion, or to another qualified VA examiner if that individual is not available, for the purpose of eliciting an addendum opinion as to the severity of his currently diagnosed back condition. Specifically, the examiner must review the claims file to ascertain and explain the specific limitations on the Veteran in the months following both of his spinal surgeries in May 2013 and in February 2014, as he is claiming that these surgeries required an extended period of convalescence in the time following each one. A. C. MACKENZIE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Christopher M. Collins, 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.