Citation Nr: 21068377
Decision Date: 11/10/21	Archive Date: 11/10/21

DOCKET NO. 16-47 573
DATE: November 10, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a stomach disability is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Army from May 1966 to May 1968.

In November 2019, the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) issued a decision which, in pertinent part, denied the Veteran's claim of entitlement to service connection for a stomach disability. The Veteran appealed this decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In June 2021, the Court issued a Memorandum Decision, vacating and remanding the portion of the Board's decision regarding the Veteran's stomach disability claim. The Court instructed that the Board reconsider the adequacy of the August 2016 VA examination and medical opinion in light of its recent decisions in Miller v. Wilkie, 32 Vet. App. 249, 257 (2020) and Smith v. Wilkie, 32 Vet. App. 332, 340 (2020). In Miller, a case where the lay evidence was relevant and impliedly found to be credible, the Court held that a medical examination was inadequate for failure to address the veteran's lay statements. Applying Miller, the Court explained in Smith, that, because "medical opinions inform credibility findings," the duty to assist may require that the Board obtain a medical examination before assessing the credibility of lay evidence, and the matter was remanded. Considering the Court's findings in Miller and Smith, coupled with the Board's explicit finding that the Veteran in this case is competent to report his symptomatology in and since service, the Board finds that a remand for an addendum medical opinion which adequately considers the Veteran's lay statements is required.       

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran's claimed stomach disability is at least as likely as not related to his active duty service, to include his in-service complaints of vague discomfort, reflux, food getting stuck (September 1967), substernal epigastric pain (September 1967), stomach trouble with indigestion (November 1967), and dyspepsia (January 1968). The examiner is asked to specifically consider the Veteran's lay statements regarding continuity of these symptoms since discharge, as well as post-service diagnoses of hiatal hernia and chronic gastritis (2013). 

All conclusions or opinions offered must be accompanied by a complete medical rationale, citing to established medical principles and relevant medical evidence, such as examination findings, service treatment records, VA and private treatment records, the Veteran's contentions, or other pertinent evidence in the record to support the conclusions reached.

 

 

JENNIFER HWA

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	L. Bush

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.