Citation Nr: 21069180 Decision Date: 11/17/21 Archive Date: 11/17/21 DOCKET NO. 16-39 333 DATE: November 17, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for bilateral ankle tendonitis is granted. Entitlement to service connection for left knee degenerative arthritis is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. After resolving reasonable doubt in his favor, the Veteran's bilateral ankle tendonitis is related to service. 2. After resolving reasonable doubt in his favor, the Veteran's left knee degenerative arthritis is related to service. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for entitlement to service connection for bilateral ankle tendonitis have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107(b) (2018); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304 (2021). 2. The criteria for entitlement to service connection for left knee degenerative arthritis have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107(b) (2018); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304 (2021). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from March 1967 to March 1969, with service in Vietnam. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2014 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This case was remanded in July 2019 and March 2021 for further development. In June 2019, the Veteran testified at a Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge; a transcript of that hearing is of record, but it is mostly inaudible. As discussed in the last remand, the Veteran did not respond to VA correspondence asking him if he wanted a new hearing. Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral ankle disability and a left knee disability. Service connection may be established for a disability resulting from a disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires evidence showing: (1) a current disability; (2) incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury in service; and (3) a nexus between the current disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated in service. See Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disability was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Service treatment records (STRs) do not reflect an ankle or left knee injury; however, the Veteran does not appear to have reported almost any injuries of any kind during service. Although the Veteran's Board hearing transcript is inaudible, the Board previously discussed that the Veteran testified that his ankles hurt due to his boots during service, he injured his left knee after jumping over a foxhole during service, and that he has had pain since service. See July 2019 Board remand. During July 2021 VA examinations, he reported that he had bilateral ankle and left knee pain jumping down from the trucks in Vietnam and that he recalled spraining his left knee. He reported that he did not pay attention to the pain because he was young and thought he was invincible. As he aged, his ankles and left knee became more painful and started to impact his ability to walk. After considering the Board's prior remand based on the Veteran's testimony, the Veteran's lack of reporting nearly any disabilities in STRs, and his reports during the July 2021 VA examinations, the Board finds the Veteran's reports credible. Thus, the Board finds that he injured his ankles and left knee during service and has had pain since that time. As discussed in the Board's March 2021 remand, a prior examiner's opinions that relied on the absence of evidence in records were inadequate. New July 2021 VA medical opinions were obtained, and the examiner once again opined it was less likely than not that the Veteran's bilateral ankle tendonitis and left knee degenerative arthritis were related to service. The examiner once again relied on the absence of evidence during service. Indeed, the examiner stated there "is no evidence" of an ankle or left knee disability during service, explicitly not considering the Veteran's lay statements as evidence. As a result, the opinions are inadequate and assigned no probative weight. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE Currently, the only probative evidence of record reflects that the Veteran had in-service bilateral ankle and left knee injuries with ongoing pain since that time. Any opinion by a VA examiner would have to rely solely on the Veteran's credible lay statements, as was requested by the Board twice previously and for which the examiners failed to do in this case. After resolving reasonable doubt in his favor and based on the circumstances of this casethe conceded in-service event and continued pain, the absence of post-service injuries, and the lack of a reasonable basis to believe that additional development could alter the approximate balance of evidencethe Board finds that service connection for bilateral ankle tendonitis and left knee degenerative arthritis is warranted. E. I. VELEZ Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board J. Sandler, 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.