Citation Nr: 21061847 Decision Date: 10/05/21 Archive Date: 10/05/21 DOCKET NO. 17-40 297 DATE: October 5, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for residuals of frostbite to the bilateral feet is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, the evidence is at least in equipoise that the Veteran's residuals of frostbite to the bilateral feet are a result of active duty. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for residuals of frostbite to the bilateral feet are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served in the United States Army from November 1977 until December 1985 and in the Army National Guard from December 1985 until March 1987. His service treatment records are unavailable. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regional office (RO) handling the Veteran's claims undertook thorough but unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the Veteran's records, as documented in the claims file. This case comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2013 rating decision. The Veteran participated in an August 2019 hearing before the undersigned; a transcript is associated with the claims file. In October 2019, the Board remanded this claim for further development. Service Connection Establishing service connection generally requires competent evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the present disability. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004); see Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Pond v. West, 12 Vet. App. 341 (1999). Regulations also provide that service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disability was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Entitlement to service connection for residuals of frostbite to the bilateral feet The Veteran contends that he is entitled to service connection for residuals of frostbite to the bilateral feet. The Board concludes that the Veteran has current residuals of frostbite to the bilateral feet that were incurred during active duty service. As noted in the October 2019 decision, the Board found the Veteran "credible and competent" in his account of cold injuries. Specifically, the Veteran testified at the August 2019 hearing that while he was serving in Germany during the winter, his vehicle broke down in transit. The Veteran further testified that the rest of his convoy kept going and that he was stranded in his vehicle, which was like "a big freezer," for two days until the recovery team could retrieve him. The Veteran testified and submitted numerous lay statements that he was diagnosed with frostnip after visiting the medic in Germany. Although there is no post-service medical diagnosis of frostbite in the claims file, the Veteran asserted that his big toes are currently black and that he has experienced continued pain in his big toes with the slightest bit of cold weather since the military. At the January 2020 examination, the VA examiner noted that the Veteran's current cold injury residuals onset between 1978 and 1985 due to his service in Germany. The examiner diagnosed the Veteran with residuals of cold injury to the bilateral feet manifesting as joint pain, numbness, impaired sensation, and cold sensitivity. The examiner also noted that the Veteran had current diagnoses of bilateral osteoarthritis and bilateral hammer toes. However, the examiner explained that these disabilities, and not the cold injury, caused the Veteran his current pain and have no relation to the cold injury claim given his findings on x-ray imaging. Nevertheless, even assuming that the Veteran's foot pain is not related to the current claim, there are several other symptoms which are, including numbness, impaired sensation, and cold sensitivity. For this reason, the January 2020 diagnosis cold injury qualifies under Shedden as a current disability. Based on the above, the Board finds that the evidence is in relative equipoise. Here, the medical evidence shows that the Veteran sustained a cold injury in-service and has not resolved. While residuals of frostbite are not considered chronic pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 3.309, and are thus not subject to the continuity of symptomatology provisions, the fact of the matter is the Veteran's cold injury onset in Germany during active service, as confirmed by the January 2020 VA examiner, and have not resolved. Furthermore, while the Veteran's pain is attributed to his osteoarthritis and hammertoes of the bilateral toes which are unrelated to his cold injury, the symptoms of numbness, impaired sensation, and cold sensitivity are attributable to his cold injury. In other words, as the Veteran's cold injury had its onset in service and existed through the pendency of this claim, entitlement to service connection is warranted. See Romanowsky v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 303, 309 (2013). Further supporting this finding are the Veteran's lay statements that his cold injury onset in service and have not resolved. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). As the Board resolves reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, any further discussion of the evidence is not necessary. The nature and extent of the Veteran's residuals of frostbite to the bilateral feet is not before the Board at this time. Caroline B. Fleming Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Finelli, 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.