Citation Nr: 21003106 Decision Date: 01/19/21 Archive Date: 01/19/21 DOCKET NO. 15-44 374 DATE: January 19, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for multiple sclerosis is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Army from October 1982 to March 1988. A hearing was conducted by Travel Board in February 2019 before the undersigned Veteran’s Law Judge, at which the Veteran testified; a transcript is of record. The Board previously remanded this case for additional development in July 2019. The matter has now returned to the Board for appellate review. As an initial matter, the Board observes that the Veteran has been granted service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), claimed as an anxiety disorder, by the Regional Office (RO) in an October 2019 rating decision. As such the Veteran has received a full grant of benefits for this claim. Therefore, the issue of service connection for PTSD, claimed as an anxiety disorder, is no longer before the Board. Pursuant to the Board’s remand of July 2019, an addendum opinion was prepared in October 2020. Specifically, the examiner was asked to consider any in-service findings of headaches, blurred vision, and some tremors, as well as consideration of the private opinion on file. Additionally, the examiner was directed to determine whether any of the complaints recorded during service or in the years immediately following service make it as likely as not that multiple sclerosis is due to service or events or occurrences therein. Also, the examiner was requested to set out if the first symptoms were identified years post service. However, while the October 2020 VA addendum opinion considered the Veteran’s in-service complaints of headaches and hypertension, the examiner did not provide any discussion on the Veteran’s complaint of blurred vision or tremors as they might relate to a later diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Moreover, the examiner did not address the March 2010 private positive nexus opinion, as requested in the remand directives. Therefore, the Board finds that the October 2020 VA addendum opinion fails to substantially comply with the prior remand directives. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998) (a remand by the Board confers on the appellant, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with the remand orders). Accordingly, to ensure compliance with the July 2019 remand directives, and to ensure that any decision rendered in the Veteran’s appeal is based on sufficient evidence, the Board finds that a remanded for another VA addendum opinion to determine whether her multiple sclerosis is related to her active military service. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Have the Veteran’s records sent to an appropriate specialist to opine on the etiology of the Veteran’s multiple sclerosis. Review should include consideration of in-service findings of headaches, blurred vision and some tremors, as well as consideration of the March 2010 private opinion on file. Specifically, it should be determined whether any of the complaints recorded during service or in the years immediately following make it as likely as not that the multiple sclerosis is due to service or events or occurrences therein. If the first symptoms are identified years post service, that should also be set out. MICHAEL D. LYON Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board K. Scanlan, 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.