Citation Nr: 20021225
Decision Date: 03/25/20	Archive Date: 03/25/20

DOCKET NO. 15-31 378A
DATE: March 25, 2020

REMANDED

Entitlement to an initial compensable rating for hemorrhoids prior to March 19, 2018, and in excess of 20 percent thereafter is remanded.

Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for a left wrist disability is remanded.

Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from December 1977 to May 1987.

These matters come to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2012 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

In October 2018, the Veteran provided testimony before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at a Travel Board hearing.

1. Entitlement to an initial compensable rating for hemorrhoids prior to March 19, 2018, and in excess of 20 percent thereafter is remanded.

2. Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for left wrist disability is remanded.

3. Entitlement to a TDIU is remanded.

The record has reasonably raised the issue of entitlement to a TDIU as part-and-parcel of the Veteran’s higher rating claims on appeal. Rice v. Shinseki, 22 Vet. App. 447 (2009). The Veteran testified before the undersigned that he was unable to work due to his service-connected hemorrhoids and left wrist disabilities.  

Subsequent to the hearing, the Veteran filed a formal claim for TDIU in October 2018.  In conjunction with that claim, the Veteran was afforded VA examinations of his service-connected hemorrhoids and left wrist disabilities in January 2019. This occurred well after the present appeal was certified to the Board; and that evidence has not been considered by the (RO) in conjunction with these claims.

The Board sent a letter to the Veteran and his representative in November 2019 advising them of this and affording them the opportunity to submit a waiver of AOJ consideration. The letter stated that the Veteran or his representative had 45 days to respond or the claims would be remanded to the AOJ for review. The 45 days have passed, and neither the Veteran nor his representative has responded. Accordingly, these claims must be remanded so that a supplemental statement of the case (SSOC) addressing the January 2019 VA examinations (and VA treatment records added to the record since the June 2018 SSOC) may be issued. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 19.31, 19.37. 

As for entitlement to TDIU, that issue is intertwined with the issues being remanded herein and must be deferred pending adjudication of the other claims on appeal.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Readjudicate the Veteran’s claims on appeal in light of all additional evidence added to the record since the June 2018 SSOC, to specifically include the January 2019 VA hemorrhoids and left wrist examinations. 

 

 

D. JOHNSON

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	M. G. Mazzucchelli, 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.