Citation Nr: 21000708 Decision Date: 01/06/21 Archive Date: 01/06/21 DOCKET NO. 16-13 326 DATE: January 6, 2021 ORDER New and material evidence having been submitted, the claim of entitlement to service connection for skin cancer is reopened. Entitlement to service connection for skin disabilities, diagnosed as residuals of basal and squamous cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, and melanoma, are granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. In a February 2011 rating decision, the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) denied service connection for skin cancer. The Veteran did not appeal or submit new and material evidence within a year of the decision. Therefore, the February 2011 rating decision became final. 2. At the time of the February 2011 rating decision, the record did not contain evidence of a nexus between the Veteran’s skin cancer and his time on active duty. After the decision, the Veteran submitted evidence linking his skin disabilities to repeated and unprotected sun exposure in service. This evidence is new and material and raises a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim. 3. The Veteran’s skin disabilities are etiologically related to his time in active service. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. New and material evidence has been received to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for skin cancer. 38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.104, 3.156, 20.302. 2. The criteria to establish service connection for skin disabilities, diagnosed as residuals of basal and squamous cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, and melanoma, have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from August 1963 to September 1983. He appeals a December 2015 rating decision by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) denying service connection for malignant melanoma (formerly claimed as skin cancer). A Board hearing was held in January 2021. The transcript is not yet available. However, this appeal meets the criteria for VA’s one-touch initiative program. To provide an immediate and favorable response to the Veteran after his hearing, a transcript of the hearing will be added to the Veteran’s file at a later date. A Veteran is entitled to VA disability compensation if there is a disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131. Generally, to establish a right to compensation for a present disability, a veteran must show: (1) a present disability; (2) an 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). The Veteran contends that repeated sun exposure without protection while serving in the Republic of Vietnam caused his skin disabilities. He served there from September 1967 to October 1968 and November 1971 to October 1972. See VA Form 21-3101. The first and second Shedden elements are met and not in dispute. The Veteran has residuals of basal and squamous cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, and melanoma. See, e.g., February 2019 Dr. M.L. medical opinion; February 2016 Dr. T.T. medical opinion; January 2011 VA examination report. Further, fellow servicemembers explained how the Veteran did not have protection while working in the sun and had prolonged exposure to harmful sun rays. See, e.g., February 2018 R.W. statement; April 2016 W.S. statement. As such, the crux of this case centers on whether the Veteran’s skin disabilities are etiologically related to his unprotected sun exposure in service. Dr. M.L. links the Veteran’s specific skin disabilities to his sun overexposure in service. See February 2019 Dr. M.L. medical opinion. Dr. T.T., after acknowledging that he treated the Veteran for over 25 years and “being aware of his excessive sun exposure,” opined that the Veteran’s skin problems “began with his chronic exposure to the sun during his deployment in Vietnam. There is no other logical conclusion.” See February 2016 Dr. T.T. medical opinion. The Board notes that the positive nexus opinions in this case as related to the link between sun exposure and skin disabilities are not refuted by other evidence in the file and reflect an understanding of the Veteran’s specific disabilities as applied to the Veteran. Thus, the Board finds the positive medical opinions of record probative as to the nexus element in this particular case. (Continued on the next page)   Therefore, as applicable to the facts in this case, the evidence for and the evidence against the Veteran’s claim is in relative equipoise, and the Board affords him the benefit of the doubt. The Board also finds that there is expert evidence of record in this particular case establishing a link between the Veteran’s residuals of basal and squamous cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, melanoma and his time on active duty. Accordingly, the Board grants service connection for those skin disabilities. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. DONNIE R. HACHEY Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Salazar, Associate 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.