Citation Nr: 21071668
Decision Date: 12/01/21	Archive Date: 12/01/21

DOCKET NO. 17-36 168A
DATE: December 1, 2021

REMANDED

Service connection for a left hip disability, to include as secondary to service-connected knee disability, is remanded.

Service connection for a right hip disability, to include as secondary to service-connected knee disability, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active service in the U.S. Marine Corps from November 1979 to November 1983.  

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2016 rating decision.  The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at a Board hearing in October 2019.

In a December 2020 decision, the Board denied the claims for service connection for left and right hip disabilities.  The Veteran timely appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court), and in August 2021 Order, the Court vacated the Board's December 2020 decision and remanded the claims pursuant to the terms of a Joint Motion for Partial Remand.

Specifically, the Parties agreed that remand was necessary to obtain non-VA chiropractic treatment records identified in VA medical records as scanned into VISTA imaging.  Further, the Parties agreed a new opinion needed to be obtained which addressed all evidence of record, including medical literature submitted by the Veteran indicating a possible relationship between knee and hip conditions.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Associate any pertinent VA or private medical records that are not already of record with the claims file.  Treatment records from Priester Chiropractic scanned into the VISTA Imaging database (see April 2020 and May 2020 Durham VAMC records) should specifically be associated with the file.

2. Schedule the Veteran for a VA examination with a medical doctor that has not previously examined him to determine the nature and etiology of any bilateral hip disability.  The examiner must review the claims file, including medical literature submitted by the Veteran, and should note that review in the report. The rationale for all opinions should be provided. The examiner should explicitly provide the following opinions:

(a.) Is it at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that any bilateral hip disability was incurred during service, is due to any event, disease, or injury during service, or manifested within one year after separation from service?

(b.) Is it at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that any bilateral hip disability is due to or the result of service-connected disabilities, including bilateral knee disabilities?

(c.) Is it at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that any bilateral hip disability has been aggravated by service-connected disabilities, including bilateral knee disabilities?

 

 

JOHN Z. JONES

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	H. Ahmad

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.