Citation Nr: 21002482
Decision Date: 01/13/21	Archive Date: 01/13/21

DOCKET NO. 11-05 384A
DATE: January 13, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a left shoulder disability, to include as secondary to service-connected disability, is remanded.

Entitlement to service connection for a right shoulder disability, to include as secondary to service-connected disability, is remanded.

Entitlement to service connection for a neck disability, to include as secondary to service-connected disability, is remanded.

Entitlement to service connection for a headache disability, to include as secondary to service-connected disability, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from January 1986 to April 1993.

The Veteran provided testimony before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) in November 2012.

This appeal has been before the Board on numerous occasions,  and  in June 2019, the Board remanded the Veteran’s above-captioned claims for additional development, to include obtaining a supplemental opinion from an August 2018 VA examiner.  Specifically, the Board requested that the examiner opine as to whether disabilities, for which service connection had been recently granted, caused or aggravated the Veteran’s left and right shoulder, neck, and headache disabilities.

In January 2020, the August 2018 VA examiner simply reiterated verbatim the already rendered opinions without additional explanation.  The Board finds that these supplemental opinions are insufficient for adjudication purposes.

Notably, in a separate August 2018 opinion, the same examiner opined that the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities of his lower extremities, considered in the aggregate, hindered the Veteran from engaging in regular physical exercise.  Due to this inability, the Veteran experienced persistently worsening morbid obesity that, in turn, aggravated the Veteran’s left and right hips disabilities beyond their natural progression.  The Veteran’s worsening obesity was not referenced or discussed in either the August 2018 or January 2020 opinions regarding his left and right shoulders, cervical spine, or headache disability.  See Walsh v. Wilkie, 32 Vet. App. 300 (2020).

For these reasons, the Board finds that a remand is required in order to provide the Veteran a new VA examination, to include consideration of obesity as an intermediate step.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Schedule a VA examination (or telehealth interview, review of the record, etc. if an in-person examination is not feasible).

Thereafter, the examiner must opine as to whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s left shoulder, right shoulder, neck, and/or headaches disability is/are related to or had its onset in service.

The examiner must also opine as to whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s left shoulder, right shoulder, neck, and/or headaches disability was caused or aggravated by his service-connected disabilities, to include in the aggregate.

In addressing secondary service connection, the examiner is asked to consider and discuss the Veteran’s progressively worsening morbid obesity as an “intermediate step” between the Veteran’s service-connected disability and his left shoulder, right shoulder, neck, and headaches disabilities.  Also, with respect to secondary service connection, the examiner is asked to consider and discuss whether any treatment or/and medication prescribed to treat a service-connected disabilities caused or aggravated his left shoulder, right shoulder, neck, and or headaches disability.

 

 

STEVEN D. REISS

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Sean G. Pflugner, 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.