Citation Nr: 21001062 Decision Date: 01/06/21 Archive Date: 01/06/21 DOCKET NO. 16-09 849 DATE: January 6, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to an evaluation in excess of 10 percent for status post fracture distal radius and ulna, left wrist, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Coast Guard from November 1982 to November 1986. For his honorable service, the Veteran was awarded (among other decorations) a Meritorious Service Medal and Coast Guard Restricted Duty Ribbon. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2017 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In October 2018, the Veteran testified at a video conference hearing held before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of this hearing has been added to the record. In March 2019, the Board remanded this matter for additional evidentiary development. 1. Entitlement to an evaluation in excess of 10 percent for status post fracture distal radius and ulna, left wrist, is remanded. Unfortunately, there has not been substantial compliance with the Board’s previous remand directives herein. Another remand is required. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). Specifically, the Board instructed that a new VA examination was required to determine the Veteran’s active and passive range of motion in accordance with Correia v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 158, 168 (2016). The examiner was also instructed to determine whether there was any nerve damage related to the Veteran’s left wrist disability. The October 2019 VA examinaton of the wrist failed to adequately address either of these concerns. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Veteran to provide the names and addresses of all medical care providers who have recently treated him for his status post fracture distal radius and ulna, left wrist. After securing any necessary releases, request any relevant records identified. In addition, obtain updated VA treatment records. If any requested records are unavailable, the Veteran should be notified of such. 2. Schedule the Veteran for an examination to determine the current severity of his status post fracture distal radius and ulna, left wrist. The examiner must separately state the Veteran’s active and passive ranges of motion in the left wrist, and whether he has any pain with weight-bearing and without weight-bearing. The examiner must also address whether the Veteran’s left wrist disability results in any nerve damage, including specifically whether this condition has resulted in carpal tunnel syndrome (see March 2016 VA MRI of wrist findings). For any nerve damage identified, the examiner must identify the nerve or nerves in involved and comment on the severity of any such nerve disability. In addition, the examiner must attempt to elicit information regarding the severity, frequency, and duration of any flare-ups, and the degree of functional loss during flare-ups. To the extent possible, the examiner should identify any symptoms and functional impairments due to his left wrist disability alone and discuss the effect of the Veteran’s left wrist disability on any occupational functioning and activities of daily living. If it is not possible to provide a specific measurement, or an opinion regarding flare-ups, symptoms, or functional impairment without speculation, the examiner must state whether the need to speculate is due to a deficiency in the state of general medical knowledge (no one could respond given medical science and the known facts), a deficiency in the record (additional facts are required), or the examiner (does not have the knowledge or training). Evan M. Deichert Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board W. Yates, 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.