Citation Nr: 21067498
Decision Date: 11/04/21	Archive Date: 11/04/21

DOCKET NO. 18-37 511
DATE: November 4, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for esophageal cancer due to contaminated water exposure at Camp Lejeune is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from April 1959 to June 1961.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2017 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). 

The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for esophageal cancer in a July 2020 decision.  The Veteran appealed the Board's July 2020 decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court), which in a June 2021 order, granted the parties' joint motion for remand (JMR), vacating the Board's July 2020 decision and remanding the case for compliance with the terms of the joint motion.  In the June 2021 JMR, the parties determined that the Board failed to discuss or address whether VA fully complied with its duty to assist the Veteran in the development of his case.  More specifically, in June 2015, the Veteran stated that he received treatment at B.P.H. and that a gastroesophageal junction mass was found during this treatment.  The record does not contain any treatment records from this facility and the Board did not discuss whether its duty to assist was satisfied in light of the Veteran's statement.  The Board notes that the Veteran recently completed consent for records request documents from B.P.H.  Thus, the Board must remand this matter for compliance with the Court's June 2021 Order.  See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998); see also Forcier v. Nicholson, 19 Vet. App. 414, 425 (2006) (holding that the duty to ensure compliance with the Court's order extends to the terms of the agreement struck by the parties that forms the basis of the joint motion to remand); cf. McBurney v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 136, 140 (2009) (Board has a duty on remand to ensure compliance with the favorable terms stated in the [JMR] or explain why the terms will not be fulfilled.).

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Obtain any outstanding VA treatment records. 

2. Using the Veteran's June 2021 medical authorization form, request all the Veteran's medical records from B.P.H.  If these records are unavailable, this should be noted in the file.

3. Thereafter, any additional development should be completed, to include a VA examination, if deemed necessary.

 

K.A. KENNERLY

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Ijitimehin, Kemi D.

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.