Citation Nr: 21071293 Decision Date: 11/30/21 Archive Date: 11/30/21 DOCKET NO. 17-08 683 DATE: November 30, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for hypertension is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran first developed hypertension years after discharge from service and his hypertension is unrelated to service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for hypertension are not met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served in the United States Air Force with active duty from June 1982 to April 2003. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2014 rating decision. In August 2021 the Board remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for a sciatic condition and service connection for hypertension. Since then, the VA regional office (RO) granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for a sciatic condition. Accordingly, only the claim for service connection for hypertension remains in appellate status before the Board. The development specified by the August 2021 Board remand, providing the Veteran a VA hypertension examination, has been accomplished and the Veteran's claim is now ready for Board review. 1. Entitlement to service connection for hypertension. The Veteran submitted his claim for service connection for hypertension in May 2014. On his January 2015 notice of disagreement (NOD) the Veteran asserted that his hypertension began in service. He reported that there were 14 instances in his military records indicating high pulse rate and blood pressure. In general, service connection may be granted for a disability or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Notwithstanding the above, service connection may be granted for disability shown after service, when all of the evidence, including that pertinent to service, shows that it was incurred or aggravated in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Establishing service connection generally requires competent evidence of three things: (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship, i.e., a nexus, between the current disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. See Shedden v. Principi, 381 F. 3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may also be established for a current disability on the basis of a presumption that certain chronic diseases manifesting themselves to a certain degree within a certain time after service must have had their onset in service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1112, 1113; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309(a). For hypertension, the disease must have manifested to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year of service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a)(3). In this case, the Veteran was not diagnosed with hypertension within one year of separation from service and there is no competent evidence documenting the presence of symptoms of the disease within one year. As such, entitlement to service connection for hypertension as a chronic disease on a presumptive basis is not warranted. 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a). The Veteran's service treatment records (STRs) reveal no diagnoses of hypertension. A December 2002 VA general medical examination included a review the Veteran's service treatment records. It was noted that the Veteran's family had a history of heart disease and hypertension. The examination report did not indicate that the Veteran had hypertension. The earliest VA treatment record that indicates that the Veteran had hypertension is dated in February 2009. A March 2010 VA treatment record noted that the Veteran was prescribed hypertension medication. In September 2021, a VA examiner reviewed the Veteran's records, examined the Veteran, and opined that the Veteran's hypertension was not related to service. Although the Veteran maintains that his STR reflect the presence of high blood pressure, such is not shown by the STR. With regard to his assertions that his current hypertension is related to service, such falls outside the realm of common knowledge of a lay person as this is beyond the capability of a lay person to observe. See Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1377 n.4 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (lay persons not competent to diagnose cancer). The diagnosis and determination of the etiology of hypertension requires specialized testing and medical knowledge. Consequently, the Veteran's statements are of no probative value. (Continued on the next page) The September 2021 VA examiner opined that the Veteran's hypertension was not to service and there is no medical evidence to the contrary. The most probative evidence indicates that the Veteran's hypertension is not related to service. Consequently, the Board finds that the preponderance of the probative evidence is against the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension, and service connection is not warranted. G. A. WASIK Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board R. E. Jones, 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.