Citation Nr: 21070820 Decision Date: 11/26/21 Archive Date: 11/26/21 DOCKET NO. 16-32 372 DATE: November 26, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disorder, to include as secondary to service-connected degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the left patellofemoral joint (hereinafter referred to as a "left knee disability"), is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from April 1968 to April 1971. This case originally came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2014 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which reopened the right knee claim but continued to deny service connection. The Veteran requested a videoconference hearing in his July 2016 VA Form 9 but did not report to a June 2019 hearing. He has offered no explanation and good cause has not been shown. The Board deems the hearing request to have been withdrawn. The Board notes that VA treatment records were associated with the claims file after the Statement of the Case was issued in June 2016. As such, they were not reviewed by the RO, and the Veteran did not submit a waiver of RO review. However, those records are not relevant to the claim on appeal. Regardless, the issue is remanded, as explained below, and these records should be considered when the issue is readjudicated by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction. 1. Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disorder, to include as secondary to a service-connected left knee disability, is remanded. Remand is required to obtain a new VA examination. Despite initially submitting a claim for a right knee disorder based on a direct service connection basis, the Veteran later clarified that his right knee was not due to service but rather that service connection on a secondary basis was warranted. Specifically, he contended that ongoing pain and favoring of his service-connected left knee resulted in overuse of his right knee. See June 2009 Board hearing transcript; January 2014 supplemental claim application. The Veteran was provided one VA examination in November 2014. The examiner diagnosed him with a right knee posterior cruciate ligament tear in 1978, noted that x-rays documented arthritis in the right knee, and provided a negative opinion, explaining that the right knee disorder was not caused by the in-service left knee injury. The examiner stated that the right knee injury after separation from service was more serious than the in-service left knee injury, and that both had progressed as expected, independent of one another. In a December 2014 email, the examiner clarified that the right knee disorder was not due to or aggravated by the service-connected left knee disability. Although the examiner in essence provided a negative opinion regarding both causation and aggravation of the right knee disorder by the service-connected left knee disability, no rationale was provided. As such, the opinion is inadequate. For these reasons, another remand is necessary. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Schedule the Veteran for a VA examination with an appropriate examiner to evaluate the nature and etiology of his right knee disorder. All indicated tests and studies should be accomplished and the findings reported in detail. The examiner is asked to examine the Veteran, review his claims file, and then respond, with compete rationale, to the following: a) Confirm all diagnoses involving the right knee, including any residuals of a right knee posterior cruciate ligament tear and procedure and arthritis, and, if possible, the onset of each. b) For each diagnosis, provide an opinion as to whether it at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) was CAUSED by, AGGRAVATED by, or OTHERWISE RELATED to his service-connected left knee disability. *The examiner should ADDRESS and/or DISCUSS whether ongoing pain and favoring of his service-connected left knee caused overuse of the right knee, thus resulting in the current right knee diagnoses.* A complete rationale should be provided for any opinion provided. (Continued on the next page) 2. Thereafter, readjudicate the remanded claim on appeal. S. B. MAYS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board J. Lee, Associate 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.