Citation Nr: 21065851
Decision Date: 10/27/21	Archive Date: 10/27/21

DOCKET NO. 18-53 003
DATE: October 27, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to a rating in excess of 30 percent for asthma is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from June 1975 to December 1976.  

This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal of a June 2018 rating decision of a Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in a June 2020 Board hearing; a transcript is included in the claims file. 

In the June 2020 Board hearing, the Veteran asserted that his asthma has increased in severity since the Veteran was last examined by VA. The Veteran should be provided an opportunity to report for a VA examination to ascertain the current severity and manifestations of his asthma.  See Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400, 403 (1997); see also Green v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 121, 124 (1991) (VA has a duty to provide the Veteran with a thorough and contemporaneous medical examination); Caffrey v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 377, 381 (1994) (an examination too remote for rating purposes cannot be considered "contemporaneous").

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

1. The Veteran should be given the opportunity to identify any outstanding private or VA treatment records relevant to the claim on appeal.  After obtaining any necessary authorization from the Veteran, all outstanding records should be obtained, to include updated VA treatment records.  

For private treatment records, make at least two (2) attempts to obtain records from any identified sources. If any such records are unavailable, inform the Veteran and his representative and afford him an opportunity to submit any copies in their possession. 

For federal records, all reasonable attempts should be made to obtain such records. If any records cannot be obtained after reasonable efforts have been made, issue a formal determination that such records do not exist or that further efforts to obtain such records would be futile, which should be documented in the claims file. The Veteran must be notified of the attempts made and why further attempts would be futile, and allowed the opportunity to provide such records, as provided in 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(b)(2) and 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(e).

2.  Following the receipt of outstanding records, schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the current severity of his service-connected asthma.

The examiner should describe the nature and severity of all manifestations of the Veteran's asthma and conduct pulmonary function testing. He or she should state which finding most accurately reflects the Veteran's level of disability associated with his asthma.

The examiner should provide a full description of the disability and report all signs and symptoms necessary for evaluating the Veteran's disability under the rating criteria 

 

KRISTY L. ZADORA

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	D. M. Donahue Boushehri, 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.