Citation Nr: 21069693
Decision Date: 11/19/21	Archive Date: 11/19/21

DOCKET NO. 16-13 027
DATE: November 19, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for essential tremors, to include as due to exposure to herbicide agents, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from December 1968 to September 1972 and May 1983 to December 1988.

This appeal stems from a May 2012 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office.

More recently, in March 2021, the Board remanded the claim to provide the Veteran with a VA examination and an opinion as to the etiology of the Veteran's essential tremors. 

In April 2021, the Veteran was provided a VA examination and the examiner determined that the Veteran's essential tremors were less likely than not incurred in or caused by the claimed in-service injury, event, or illness.  The examiner acknowledged that essential tremors can be a parkinsonism trait with certain parkinsonism type diseases but indicated that the Veteran in this case has no diagnosis of a Parkinsonism type of disease. 

In a November 2021 appellate brief, the Veteran's representative asserted, and the Board agrees, that the April 2021 VA opinion is inadequate because it did not address the second question posed by the Board, namely, whether the Veteran's essential tremors are directly related to the conceded exposure to herbicide agents in service.  Accordingly, an additional opinion is needed prior to analyzing the merits of this claim. 

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

1.  Obtain another medical opinion from an appropriate VA examiner to help determine the likely etiology of the Veteran's essential tremors.  The claims file and a copy of this remand will be made available to the examiner, who will acknowledge receipt and review of these materials.  The need for another examination is left to the discretion of the medical professional offering the addendum opinion.

After a review of the record, the examiner is asked to respond to the following: 

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Provide an opinion, with complete rationale, as to whether it is at least as likely as not (a 50 percent probability or higher) that the Veteran's diagnosed essential tremors is directly related to presumed exposure to herbicide agents in service, or any other incident therein.

2. Thereafter, readjudicate the remanded claim.

 

 

S. B. MAYS

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	A. Yaffe, 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.