Citation Nr: 21066469 Decision Date: 11/01/21 Archive Date: 11/01/21 DOCKET NO. 15-25 362 DATE: November 1, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a low back disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for a right hip disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for a left knee disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for a right ankle disability is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from October 1960 to August 1963. After his death in March 2017, his surviving spouse was substituted as the appellant. In a May 2020 decision, the Board denied service connection for disabilities affecting the low back, right hip, left knee, right knee, and right ankle. The Veteran appealed the Board's 2020 decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In a June 2021 joint motion for remand (JMR), the Court vacated the Board decision, and remanded these matters on appeal back to the Board for action in accordance with the JMR. In a November 2020 statement, the appellant's attorney representative withdrew their representation, to include copying the appellant on the correspondence. 11/18/2020 Third Party Correspondence. As another representative has not been appointed, the appellant is proceeding in this appeal pro se. 1. Entitlement to service connection for a low back disability is remanded. 2. Entitlement to service connection for a right hip disability is remanded. 3. Entitlement to service connection for a left knee disability is remanded. 4. Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is remanded. 5. Entitlement to service connection for a right ankle disability is remanded. The appellant asserts (as the Veteran did) that the disabilities affecting the low back, right hip, left knee, right knee, and right ankle were incurred in or aggravated by injuries from a 1963 parachute jump. According to the Veteran, he was treated for a broken right ankle after falling 60-85 feet, without the support of his parachute. He also reportedly felt pain throughout the right side of his body immediately after the fall. In the June 2021 JMR, the parties agreed that the May 2020 Board decision failed to provide adequate reasons and bases for finding the April 2010 and April 2015 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) opinions "highly probative," without addressing the Board's prior determination in December 2019 decision that such opinions were "inadequate." The parties noted that in December 2019, the Board remanded the claims for new medical opinions because "the April 2010 and 2015 examiners failed to adequately consider the lay statements and contentions of the Veteran regarding the onset and continuity of his symptoms, nor did the examiner provide adequate supporting rationale for the conclusions reached." The parties noted that because the Board failed to provide an adequate statement of reasons or bases for why the medical opinions that it previously found inadequate are now "well-reasoned" thus were an inconsistent determination. The February 2020 VA examination was also determined to be inadequate by the parties for adjudication purposes as the examiner failed to adequately consider the Veteran's reports of a parachuting incident in conjunction with his occupation as a parachutist in formulating the opinion. Therefore, the Board finds that new VA examinations must be scheduled for the Veteran's claims for entitlement to service connection for disabilities of the low back, right hip, left knee, right knee, and right ankle. The VA examiner will need to address whether the Veteran's in-service experiences from parachute landings and/or his reported parachuting injury caused his diagnosed low back, right hip, left knee, right knee, and right ankle disabilities. These matters are REMANDED for the following action: Schedule the Veteran for a VA examination by an examiner with sufficient expertise to determine the nature and etiology of the Veteran's low back disability, right hip disability, right knee disability, left knee disability, and right ankle disability. The examiner should review the claims file and indicate that review in the report. Any indicated studies should be performed. Based upon the examination results and a review of the record, the examiner is to provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that any low back disability, right hip disability, right knee disability, left knee disability, and right ankle disability was etiologically related to service to include as a result of his experiences from multiple parachute jumps. **The examiner must specifical consider and discuss the Veteran's self-report of an incident that occurred in a 1963 parachute jump where he reported that the was treated for a broken right ankle after falling 60-85 feet, without the support of his parachute.** The examiner is also informed that there can be NO reliance on the 2010, 2015, and 2019 VA examiners etiological opinions regarding the low back, right hip, right knee, left knee, and right ankle disabilities. The examiner must provide a complete rationale for his or her opinion(s) in the examination report. If any of the above requested opinions cannot be made without resort to speculation, the examiner must state this and provide a rationale for such conclusion. Paul Sorisio Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board J. Dworkin, 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.