Citation Nr: 21000541
Decision Date: 01/05/21	Archive Date: 01/05/21

DOCKET NO. 13-02 109
DATE: January 5, 2021

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for a right shoulder disability, diagnosed as osteoarthritis and a rotator cuff tear, is granted.

FINDING OF FACT

The Veteran’s right shoulder disability, diagnosed as osteoarthritis and a rotator cuff tear, is related to service.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria to establish service connection for a right shoulder disability, diagnosed as osteoarthritis and a rotator cuff tear, have been met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1111, 1131, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.306, 3.307, 3.309 (2019).

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran had active service from November 1967 to May 1971.  

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from an April 2012 rating decision by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ).  

The Board remanded the appeal in July 2017 and October 2018.  

Service Connection

The Veteran seeks service connection for a right shoulder disability.  He has reported that he sustained an injury during basic training that required surgery.  He indicated that the injury continued to bother him following service.  

Entitlement to VA compensation may be granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active duty.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110 (wartime service), 1131 (peacetime service); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303.  

To establish a right to compensation for a present disability, a Veteran must show: “(1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service”-the so-called “nexus” requirement.  Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004).

Service connection may be granted for any disease initially diagnosed after service, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service.  38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d).

VA treatment records include diagnoses of right shoulder osteoarthritis and rotator cuff tear.  The first Shedden element has been met.  The Veteran’s service treatment records also note treatment for right shoulder complaints thereby satisfying the second Shedden element.  Finally, in October 2012, the Veteran’s treating VA physician, Dr. J.K., related the Veteran’s current right shoulder condition to service, thereby satisfying the third Shedden element.  See October 2012 CAPRI records.  As such, service connection for a right shoulder disability, diagnosed as osteoarthritis and a rotator cuff tear, is granted.

The Board separately notes that on service entrance the Veteran was diagnosed with right shoulder bursitis.  However, during the pendency of the appeal, the medical evidence does not demonstrate that the Veteran has bursitis currently or that his arthritis or rotator cuff tear are related in any way to bursitis.  As such, an analysis under 38 U.S.C. § 1153, is not warranted.  Instead, as noted above, the evidence demonstrates that the Veteran’s arthritis and rotator cuff tear, which were not noted on service entrance, are related to service.  Accordingly, service connection for osteoarthritis and a rotator cuff tear is granted.  

 

 

DONNIE R. HACHEY

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	J. Barone, 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.