Citation Nr: 20029344 Decision Date: 04/27/20 Archive Date: 04/27/20 DOCKET NO. 18-37 152 DATE: April 27, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to a compensable rating for service-connected Hepatitis C is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Navy from December 1969 to October 1971. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2017 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In March 2020, the Veteran and his son presented sworn testimony at a hearing before the undersigned.   Entitlement to a compensable rating for service-connected Hepatitis C is remanded. In a December 2017 rating decision, the RO granted service connection for hepatitis C and assigned a noncompensable rating, effective May 22, 2017. The Veteran assets that he should be rated higher for his Hepatitis C because he reports that he has suffered from periods of fatigue and not being able to eat and has lost a lot of weight due to the loss of appetite. See February 2018 Notice of Disagreement. These periods can last a week or more at times, and sometimes he is unable to eat because of severe nausea or only able to eat one meal a day. See July 2018 Form 9. At his March 2020 Board Hearing, the Veteran testified that he has constant and daily fatigue, nausea, decreased appetite, and arthralgia as symptoms of his Hepatitis C. See March 2020 Hearing Transcript. Further, he testified that he has fatigue “all the time” and stated he had pain in his joints, “arthralgia,” and that due to the fatigue, he is forced to take several breaks during the day because he feels too tired to continue; he also reported abdominal pain along with the nausea. The Veteran’s son testified at the hearing and stated he has noticed the effects of fatigue on the Veteran, as he says he is too tired for activities such as hunting and fishing that he used to do regularly. The Veteran also testified that at the last VA examination done for hepatitis C in December 2017, the Veteran was found asymptomatic; however, he contends that the examination was not a good reflection of the disability picture because he was “feeling fairly good that day,” and he was not suffering from any of the symptoms he is feeling at this time. Based on the evidence on record indicating a worsening of the Veteran’s hepatitis C since the last examination, the Board finds that a remand is necessary for a new examination to assess the current and worsening symptomatology of the service-connected Hepatitis C. See Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400, 403 (1997). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain any outstanding VA treatment records pertaining to the Veteran’s Hepatitis C and associate them with the record. 2. Notify the Veteran that he may submit additional statements from himself and from other individuals who have first-hand knowledge, to include his son, who can address the nature, extent severity and manifestations of his hepatitis C and the impact of the condition on his ability to work. The Veteran should be provided an appropriate amount of time to submit this lay evidence. 3. Schedule the Veteran for an examination (or telehealth interview, review of the record, etc. if an in-person examination is not feasible) by an appropriate clinician to determine the current severity of his service-connected Hepatitis C. The examiner should provide a full description of the disability and all manifestations of the condition. To the extent possible, the examiner should identify the nature, extent and severity any symptoms and functional impairments due to Hepatitis C. The examiner should specifically indicate whether the disability is productive of intermittent or daily fatigue, malaise, and anorexia, requiring dietary restriction or continuous medication, or incapacitating episodes The examiner should also comment as to whether the Veteran’s hepatitis C is productive of symptoms such as fatigue, malaise, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, arthralgia, and right upper quadrant pain, and the duration of any such episodes during the past twelve-month period. The examiner should also comment on the presence or absence of weight loss, hepatomegaly, and malnutrition due to hepatitis. STEVEN D. REISS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Zarar Ahmed, Attorney Advisor 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.