Citation Nr: 20028849
Decision Date: 04/24/20	Archive Date: 04/24/20

DOCKET NO. 13-20 815
DATE: April 24, 2020

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for heart condition, to include as secondary to service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or cold injuries is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from October 1995 to December 1999 in the United States Coast Guard.

Entitlement to service connection for heart condition, to include as secondary to service-connected PTSD and/or cold injuries is remanded.

The claim must be remanded again because there has not been substantial compliance with the Board’s March 2018 remand directives. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998).

The remanded the claim for a VA examination and opinion. However, on remand there appears to have been some confusion as to whether the Veteran was required to attend an examination in person.  The Veteran, therefore, did not provide availability for an examination and ultimately did not attend the examination that was eventually scheduled.  In light of the confusing initial procedural action taken by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ), another remand is warranted to attempt to provide the Veteran with a VA examination.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any diagnosed heart condition. Copies of all pertinent records must be made available to the examiner for review, including copies of the Veteran’s July 2011 submission and the representative’s February 2018 brief.  

Based on the examination and review of the record, the examiner should answer the following: 

(a)	identify all currently diagnosed heart conditions. 

(b) Is it at least as likely as not that any currently diagnosed heart condition related to his military service. 

(c) Is it at least as likely as not that any currently diagnosed heart condition is (i) caused or (ii) aggravated by his service-connected disabilities (PTSD and cold injuries to hands, feet, ears and nose). Aggravation here is defined as any increase in disability. 

In answering these questions, the examiner must consider and discuss the medical literature and arguments in the July 2011 submission and February 2018 brief. If that material is not available for review, the examiner must ask the AOJ to provide that BEFORE the opinion is offered. 

A complete rationale must be provided for any opinion offered. If an opinion cannot be provided, the examiner must explain why.

 

 

M.E. Larkin

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	P.S. McLeod

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.