Citation Nr: 21002090
Decision Date: 01/12/21	Archive Date: 01/12/21

DOCKET NO. 180926-498
DATE: January 12, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for ulcerative colitis is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The rating decision on appeal was issued in September 2018. In May 2018, the Veteran elected the modernized review system. The Veteran selected the Higher-Level Review lane when he opted into the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA) review system by submitting a Rapid Appeals Modernization Program (RAMP) election form. Accordingly, the September 2018 AMA rating decision considered the evidence of record as of the date VA received the RAMP election form. The Veteran timely appealed this rating decision to the Board of Veterans Appeals (Board) and requested a Board hearing review of the evidence considered by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ). In April 2019, the Veteran and his wife attended a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ). 

In July 2019, the Board denied the Veteran’s claim. The Veteran appealed this decision to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In August 2020, the Court vacated the Board decision and remanded the Veteran’s claim for action consistent with the directives of a joint motion for remand (JMR).

The Board finds that the claim must be remanded to obtain a new VA opinion on the etiology of the Veteran’s ulcerative colitis. The examiner should consider the Veteran’s April 2019 testimony that he had blood in his stool during basic training and was treated for rectal bleeding and blood in the stool during service and on and off after service. The medical professional providing the opinion is reminded that disorders diagnosed after discharge will still be service connected if all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d); see also Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039, 1043 (Fed. Cir. 1994).

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain a new VA opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s ulcerative colitis onset during service or is causally related to his service. In rendering an opinion, the VA reviewer should discuss the Veteran’s testimony that he had blood in his stool during basic training and was treated for rectal bleeding and blood in the stool during service and on and off after service.

A full rationale must be provided for all opinions expressed and must not rely solely on the fact that a condition was diagnosed after service.

 

 

H. SEESEL

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	A. Christensen

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.