Citation Nr: A20009507 Decision Date: 05/28/20 Archive Date: 05/28/20 DOCKET NO. 200213-66979 DATE: May 28, 2020 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for Parkinson’s disease is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran has a current diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and the evidence is in relative equipoise as to whether it was caused by exposure to solvents, including trichloroethylene (TCE), during active duty service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for Parkinson’s disease have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Navy from February 1963 to June 1967. The appeal comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeal (Board) under the modernized review system, or Appeals Modernization Act (AMA). 38 C.F.R. § 19.2. The Veteran opted into the AMA from the legacy system by submitting a timely AMA Notice of Disagreement with a December 2019 Statement of the Case. In the February 2020 Notice of Disagreement, the Veteran requested the Board to consider the issue under the AMA’s evidence review option, which allowed him to submit evidence with the Notice of Disagreement and within 90 days of the Board receiving it. Entitlement to service connection for Parkinson’s disease. The Veteran contends that his Parkinson’s disease is due to his exposure to industrial solvents, including TCE, while working as an aircraft mechanic in service. Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.03. Service connection may also be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in-service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). In order to establish service connection for the claimed disability, there must be (1) medical evidence of a current disability; (2) medical, or in certain circumstances, lay evidence of in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) medical, or in certain circumstances, lay evidence of a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the current disability. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.303; see also Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004). When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding the merits of an issue material to the determination of the matter, the benefit of the doubt in resolving each such issue shall be given to the claimant. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. When a veteran seeks benefits and the evidence is in relative equipoise, the veteran prevails. Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). A preponderance of the evidence must be against the claim for benefits to be denied. Alemany v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 518, 519 (1996). VA treatment records and a private examination report show the Veteran currently has Parkinson’s disease. The questions that remain for the Board are whether the Veteran's military duties exposed him to solvents, including TCE, and whether there is medical evidence of a nexus between such exposure and his Parkinson’s disease. Based on a comprehensive review of the record, the Board finds that the evidence for and against the Veteran's claim is at least in equipoise. The Veteran contends he was exposed to numerous toxic chemicals, including TCE, when repairing aircraft and while stationed at contaminated military bases. In January 2017, he submitted an article that notes that the closed Adak Naval Air Station in Alaska is a Superfund site and TCE is among the primary contaminants. In an accompanying statement, he reported he used TCE repeatedly when maintaining aircraft. His service personnel records show he was an aviation mechanic and served at Adak. Furthermore, in an opinion received in March 2020, a private physician who previously worked as a consultant and adviser for VA regarding environmental health matters, noted the Veteran would have been exposed to numerous organic solvents, including TCE, while maintaining aircraft and jet engines. Based on the foregoing and the absence of evidence to the contrary, the Board finds the Veteran was exposed to TCE in service. In the opinion received in March 2020, the private physician noted she had reviewed the Veteran’s military and medical history as well as medical literature and concluded the Veteran’s Parkinson’s disease is at least likely as not caused by his exposure to multiple solvents, including TCE, during active duty service. She supported her opinion with citations to published epidemiology studies that she said support a link between Parkinson’s disease and exposure to TCE and other solvents. The Board finds this opinion is both competent and credible because it was provided after a review of the record on appeal and review of relevant medical literature. Furthermore, there is not a contradicting medical opinion associated with the record. The Board notes that VA grants presumptive service connection for Parkinson’s disease for certain veterans who were presumed to have been exposed to contaminants, including TCE, at Camp Lejeune. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. A review of the 2015 Institute of Medicine report that was the basis for adding Parkinson’s disease to the list of diseases associated with exposure to contaminants at Camp Lejeune shows the recommendation was based on studies showing a possible association between Parkinson’s disease and TCE exposure. The presumptive service connection regulations do not apply in the Veteran’s case and the Board is in no way implying that service connection is warranted on a presumptive basis here, but the information is worthy of reference because it supports the probative value of the private examiner’s opinion. Given the diagnosis, the documented in-service injury (exposure to TCE), and the competent and credible medical opinion regarding a relationship between the Veteran's Parkinson’s disease and his exposure to TCE during active duty service, the Board finds that the criteria for service connection for Parkinson’s disease have been met. The appeal is granted. See 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. John J. Crowley Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board William A. Skowronski, 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.