Citation Nr: 21005176 Decision Date: 01/29/21 Archive Date: 01/29/21 DOCKET NO. 15-10 901 DATE: January 29, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a visual disability is remanded. Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from June 1969 to March 1973. This case comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (the Board) on appeal from March 2012 (denial of the reopening of a claim of service connection for defective vision) and May 2013 (denial of TDIU) rating decisions of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In April 2018, the Veteran testified at a Travel Board hearing held at a RO before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge and a transcript of that hearing has been associated with the electronic claims file. In July 2018, the Board reopened and remanded the claim of service connection for defective vision and also remanded the claim for TDIU. In September 2019 and August 2020, the Board remanded these claims for further development. In January 2020, the Veteran reported that he was treated at the Atlanta VA Medical Center from 2008 to the present. The RO should obtain all records from that facility for the periods from January 2008 to October 2012, from November 2017 to December 2019, and from September 2020 to the present. In January 2020, the Veteran also reported that he was treated by the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System for the period from 1971 to the present. The RO should obtain all records from that system from 1971 to the present. In August 2020, the Board asked the Veteran to identify all treatment for his visual disability. In September 2020, the Veteran authorized the release of records again from Eye Doctors Center and Piedmont Henry Hospital. The RO did not attempt to obtain any additional records from those medical providers. Therefore, the RO did not comply with the directives of the August 2020 remand. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998 The issue of TDIU is inextricably intertwined with the other issue on appeal. Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180 (1991). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Veteran to identify all treatment for his visual disability and any disability pertaining to his TDIU claim, and obtain any identified records. Obtain the Veteran’s VA treatment records from the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System for the period from 1971 to the present and from the Atlanta VA Medical Center and its affiliated outpatient clinics and community-based outpatient clinics for the periods from January 2008 to October 2012, from November 2017 to December 2019, and from September 2020 to the present. Make two requests for the authorized records from Eye Doctors Center and Piedmont Henry Hospital, unless it is clear after the first request that a second request would be futile. 2. After the development in 1 is completed, the RO should undertake any necessary development on the claim for service connection for a visual disability and the claim for TDIU as warranted by any additional evidence of record. 3. Thereafter, the AOJ must readjudicate the issues on appeal. If any benefit is not granted, the Veteran must be furnished with a supplemental statement of the case, with a copy to his counsel, and afforded an opportunity to respond before the file is returned to the Board for further appellate consideration. MICHAEL LANE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board D. Cherry, 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.