Citation Nr: 21070855 Decision Date: 11/26/21 Archive Date: 11/26/21 DOCKET NO. 12-18 113 DATE: November 26, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from September 1987 to May 1991. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal of an October 2008 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran died in May 2008. The Appellant is his surviving spouse. In July 2020, the Board denied the Appellant's claim on the merits. She appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (the Court). While the matter was pending before the Court, in March 2021, the Veteran's attorney and a representative of VA's Office of General Counsel filed a Joint Motion for Remand (JMR). The parties agreed that remand was necessary because the Board "did not explain if the [Veteran's] condition had a conclusive pathophysiology or etiology, or whether a medical opinion was necessary to adjudicate the claim." Later that same month, the Court vacated the Board's decision and remanded the matter for readjudication consistent with the JMR. 1. Entitlement to service connection for the Veteran's cause of death is remanded. The Secretary has a duty to "make reasonable efforts to assist a claimant in obtaining evidence necessary to substantiate" their claims. 38 C.F.R. § 5103A(a)(1). This duty ends only "if no reasonable possibility exists that such assistance would aid in substantiating the claim." Id. § 5103A(a)(2). And where, as here, the Veteran's service treatment records (STRs) are not available, VA's duty to assist is heightened. Washington v. Nicholson, 19 Vet. App. 362, 370 (2005). The Appellant contends that the Veteran's non-Hodgkin's lymphomathe principal cause of his deathwas caused by environmental exposure in the Southwest Asian theater of operations. In support of her contention, the Appellant relies on the Veteran's unit history and an independent medical opinion in her October 2021 informal hearing presentation (IHP). The unit history, she says, "confirm[s] that the Veteran's unit was one of the first units along the Saudi Arabian-Iraqi border and in turn was directly exposed to the oil fires set as a tactical maneuver." And the independent medical opinion from Dr. King connects the Veteran's death to his service. For whatever reason, neither the unit history nor the medical opinion made it into the claims file for the Board to review. Because there's a reasonable possibility that this evidence would aid in substantiating the Appellant's claim, the Board is required by law to remand to obtain it. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain the Veteran's unit history from his foreign service in Southwest Asia from October 1990 to April 1991. If the search for such records has negative results, the claims file must be properly documented as to the unavailability of those records. The Appellant may also submit these records. 2. Make reasonable efforts to obtain Dr. King's independent medical opinion from the Appellant, including at least one follow-up request if the records are not received. 3. After undertaking any additional development deemed appropriate and giving the Veteran full opportunity to supplement the record, adjudicate the Veteran's pending claim in light of any additional evidence added to the record. If any benefit sought on appeal remains denied, the Veteran and his attorney should be furnished with a Supplemental Statement of the Case and be afforded the applicable opportunity to respond before the record is returned to the Board for further review. M. Donohue Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Canedy, 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.