Citation Nr: 21075121
Decision Date: 12/17/21	Archive Date: 12/17/21

DOCKET NO. 15-08 366
DATE: December 17, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a skin disorder (claimed as psoriasis), to include as due to service-connected tuberculosis, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty in the Air Force from June 1971 to June 1977. 

This appeal comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from an October 2011 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regional office (RO) rating decision.

This claim was denied in a June 2018 Board decision.  The Veteran timely appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).  In January 2019, the Court granted a joint motion for partial remand on the basis that a new medical opinion was necessary.

In August 2019 and April 2021, the Board again remanded this claim to obtain an addendum medical opinion.

While the case was on remand, the issue of entitlement to service connection for tuberculosis was granted in a September 2021 rating decision. The grant of service connection constitutes full grants of the benefits sought, and as such, that issue is no longer apart of the appeal currently before the Board. Ab v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 35 (1993).

Entitlement to service connection for a skin disability is remanded.

The Veteran's post-service treatment records document complaints and treatment for psoriasis.  Furthermore, during the pendency of this appeal, the Veteran has since been service-connected for tuberculosis.  See September 2021 Rating Decision.  

As stated in the January 2019 joint motion, the Veteran's main argument is that his skin disability (psoriasis) is secondary to his tuberculosis.  The December 2019 and August 2021 VA examinations of record, while providing opinions on direct service connection, to include as whether it was due to exposure to asbestos or toxic chemicals, or a positive tuberculosis test during service, do not opine whether the Veteran's psoriasis was caused or aggravated by his now service-connected tuberculosis.  As such, the Board is without the medical information necessary to make an informed decision on this claim.  Colvin v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 171 (1991).

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain a VA medical opinion to determine the nature and etiology of the Veteran's skin disability.  If an additional examination (or telehealth interview, review of the record, or similar action, if an in-person examination is not feasible) is deemed warranted, one should be arranged. 

After reviewing the claims file, the examiner is asked to respond to the following:

(a)	Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran's skin disability, to include psoriasis, was caused by his service-connected tuberculosis?

(b)	Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran's skin disability, to include psoriasis, was aggravated by his service-connected tuberculosis?

The examiner is reminded that aggravation of a non- service-connected disability does not require a permanent worsening of the disability. Rather, aggravation in this context is any incremental increase in disability attributable to service-connected disability (i.e., any additional impairment of earning capacity that is above the degree of disability existing before the increase, regardless of its permanence). Ward v. Wilkie, 31 Vet. App. 233, 240-41 (2019). 

 

Caroline B. Fleming

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	C. Finelli, 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.