Citation Nr: 21073052
Decision Date: 12/07/21	Archive Date: 12/07/21

DOCKET NO. 14-28 192A
DATE: December 7, 2021

REMANDED

Service connection for a left hip disorder.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from July 1996 to July 1999.

This appeal was previously denied by the Board in November 2018 and appealed by the Veteran to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). A Joint Motion for Remand (JMR) was issued in October 2019, and later remanded by the Board in February 2021. It has now been returned to the Board for further appellate action.

The Veteran was diagnosed with arthritis of the left hip in 2013. He asserts that it was caused by a slip and fall accident in service in 1999 for which he did not seek treatment. Specifically, in a February 2020 statement, a fellow servicemember submitted outlined that he witnessed the slip and fall on a patch of ice wherein the Veteran injured his left hip. Additionally, he has submitted May 2010 and June 2012 private statements, that suggested links both to service, and to his service-connected lumbar spine disability. However, neither examiner provided any rationale.

The February 2021 remand directed a VA examiner to provide an opinion as to the etiology of the Veteran's left hip disorder for both direct and secondary service connection. While a secondary service connection opinion was provided with rationale, the examiner opined that the Veteran's left hip disorder was not related to service and reasoned only that there was no incident noted in service. The absence of evidence is not sufficient as the basis of a negative etiological opinion, as the Veteran is competent to report an incident in service and has corroborated such with a buddy statement. Bowling v. Principi, 15 Vet. App. 1, 8 (2001). Thus, an addendum opinion must be obtained.

The matter is REMANDED for the following actions:

1. Identify and obtain any outstanding, pertinent, private and VA treatment records and associate them with the claims file.

2. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate VA examiner to assess the current status and etiology of the Veteran's left hip disability. The entire claims file should be made available to, and reviewed by, the examiner. Another examination should not be scheduled unless deemed necessary by the examiner.

The examiner is then asked to provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran's left hip disorder was due to his active-duty service, to include his slip and fall incident. The examiner should note that the Veteran is competent to attest to his experiences, and credible as corroborated by a fellow servicemember. The examiner should also consider and address the May 2010 and June 2012 private opinions of record.

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Specifically, the examiner should provide a thorough rationale for any opinion rendered, which does not rely solely on the absence of in-service treatment and considers and addresses the Veteran's reports of an in-service injury.

 

DUSTIN L. WARE

Acting Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	M. Yacoub, 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.