Citation Nr: 21068850 Decision Date: 11/15/21 Archive Date: 11/15/21 DOCKET NO. 17-15 698 DATE: November 15, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from June 1979 to August 1983. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision issued in February 2015 by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office in Fargo, North Dakota. The Veteran testified before the undersigned at a Board hearing held in September 2020. A transcript of that hearing has been associated with the record. This matter was previously before the Board in December 2020, at which time it was denied. The Veteran appealed that decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims. In a June 2021 Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR), the parties agreed that the Board erred when it relied on a January 2015 VA examination report, which determined that the Veteran's right knee disability was not related to an in-service rappelling injury due to a lack of documentation of such. The JMPR instructed the Board to provide the Veteran with an adequate medical opinion to determine whether his right knee disability was related to service. Specifically, the parties agreed that the Veteran's report of an in-service rappelling injury must be discussed by the examiner. The Board notes that the January 2015 VA examiner indicated that the Veteran asserted an injury to his left knee, due to a rappelling accident, and not his right knee, and may have based his opinion on such. In a July 2014 statement, the Veteran described an in-service right knee injury, in which he struck his knee on a lava rock while training in Hawaii and as told he possibly had a strain or chipped knee cap. He also described a rappelling accident to his left knee. He further described being made to jump in and out of trucks while in training, which he believed impacted his knees. At the September 2020 hearing, the Veteran testified that the in-service rappelling accident impacted both knees. Once VA undertakes the effort to provide an examination for a service connection claim, even if not statutorily obligated to do so, it must provide an adequate one or, at a minimum, notify the claimant why one will not or cannot be provided. Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 311 (2007). Here, the Secretary and the Veteran agree that such has not been provided. Therefore, a new VA examination is warranted. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Schedule the Veteran for a VA examination to determine the etiology of any right knee disability. The claims file should be made available to and reviewed by the examiner. Based upon a review of the relevant evidence of record, the history provided by the Veteran, orthopedic examination, and medical principles, the VA examiner is asked to offer an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (that is, a 50 percent or higher degree of probability) that any right knee disability began in, or is otherwise related to, the Veteran's military service. The Veteran is competent to report, and the examiner must consider, lay evidence of in-service incurrence or continuity of symptomatology since service. The examiner is asked to specifically include consideration of the following knee injuries, as reported by the Veteran: striking a lava rock; striking knees while rappelling; and jumping on and off trucks while in service. A detailed rationale for all conclusions must be provided. R. FEINBERG Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Jeremy J. Olsen, 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.