Citation Nr: 21074445 Decision Date: 12/15/21 Archive Date: 12/15/21 DOCKET NO. 15-24 214 DATE: December 15, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a skin disability, to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for headaches, to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity, to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity, to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps from September 1961 to August 1965, to include service in the Republic of Vietnam from October 1964 to July 1965. In September 2020, the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) issued a decision denying the Veteran's service connection claims. The Veteran appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In September 2021, the Court issued an Order that granted a Joint Motion for Remand (Joint Motion) filed by counsel for both parties, vacated the September 2020 decision, and remanded the matters on appeal to the Board for action in compliance with the Joint Motion. 1. Entitlement to service connection for a skin disability, to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is remanded. In the September 2021 Joint Motion, the parties agreed that the Board predicated its decision upon inadequate VA examinations. The October 2019 medical examiner noted that the Veteran reported rashes on both legs in the 1970s or 1980s but opined that the "[c]ondition started many decades after service" (the Veteran separated from service in 1965) and that the Veteran's "complaints were recent." In April 2020, the same examiner noted that the Veteran never formally complained of a skin disability affecting his legs until November 2012, "close to 50 years after discharge from active duty service," while in that same report noting that the Veteran was seen for treatment in March 1993 for a "groin pruritic rash present for several weeks" that was diagnosed as contact dermatitis. These examination reports contain inconsistences that make them inadequate to fully inform the Board. On remand, an addendum etiological opinion must be obtained. 2. Entitlement to service connection for headaches, to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is remanded. In the September 2021 Joint Motion, the parties agreed that the Board predicated its decision upon an inadequate VA examination. The October 2019 VA examiner stated that the Veteran had not sought treatment for his headache condition until decades after leaving service. However, the examiner did not address the Veteran's lay statements regarding the onset of his headaches in the 1960s and 1970s. Miller v. Wilkie, 32 Vet. App. 249 (2020) requires a VA examiner to address the Veteran's lay statements to provide the Board with an adequate medical opinion. On remand, an addendum etiological opinion must be obtained. 3. Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the right lower extremity, to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is remanded. 4. Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the left lower extremity, to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is remanded. In the September 2021 Joint Motion, the parties agreed that the Board predicated its decision upon an inadequate VA examination. The October 2019 VA examiner stated that the Veteran's symptoms began many decades after discharge from active duty service yet failed to address his varying reports that symptoms began in the mid-1970s (since he was in his 30s, around 1973) or 1980s. Miller, supra. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran's skin disability is at least as likely as not related to service, to include as directly related to exposure to Agent Orange. In so doing, the examiner must address the Veteran's lay statements regarding the onset of the disability in the 1970s or 1980s and the reported continuity of his symptoms to the present. 2. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran's headache disability is at least as likely as not related to service, to include as directly related to exposure to Agent Orange. In so doing, the examiner must address the Veteran's lay statements regarding the onset of the disability in the 1960s and 1970s and the reported continuity of his symptoms to the present. 3. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran's peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities is at least as likely as not related to service, to include as directly related to exposure to Agent Orange. In so doing, the examiner must address the Veteran's lay statements regarding the onset of the disability in the 1970s (since his 30s) and 1980s and the reported continuity of his symptoms to the present. JENNIFER HWA Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board L. Bush 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.