Citation Nr: 21076369 Decision Date: 12/23/21 Archive Date: 12/23/21 DOCKET NO. 17-06 658 DATE: December 23, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for sciatica is granted. FINDING OF FACT The evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether the Veteran's sciatica is related to service. CONCLUSION OF LAW With reasonable doubt resolved in favor of the Veteran, the criteria for service connection for sciatica have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309 (2020). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the Army from June 2005 to August 2007. This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2016 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In the Substantive Appeal filed in February 2017, the Veteran requested a live videoconference hearing. The RO scheduled a hearing for September 14, 2021, and in May 2021 sent written notice of this hearing to the Veteran. The notice was sent to an address the Veteran had provided to VA on a claim filed in November 2020. The RO also sent a copy of the notice to the Veteran's representative. VA also left a voice message for the Veteran on August 26, 2021. The Veteran did not appear for the September 2021 videoconference hearing. The Veteran did not show good cause for his absence or request a new hearing within 15 days, and therefore the case will be processed as though the request for a hearing has been withdrawn. 38 C.F.R. § 20.704. Entitlement to service connection for sciatica Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). Establishing service connection generally requires competent evidence of three things: (1) current disability; (2) in-service incurrence of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. Saunders v. Wilkie, 886 F.3d 1356, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2018). Consistent with this framework, service connection is warranted for a disease first diagnosed after discharge when all of the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Certain chronic diseases will be presumed related to service if they were shown as chronic in service; or, if they manifested to a compensable degree within a presumptive period following separation from service; or, if they were noted in service, with continuity of symptomatology since service that is attributable to the chronic disease. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Organic diseases of the nervous system, including radiculopathy and sciatica, are identified as "chronic" diseases under 38 U.S.C. § 1101 and 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a). Turning to the evidence, July 2016 private treatment records indicate that the Veteran was treated for sciatica at that time. VA treatment records dated October 2018 and March 2019 diagnosed lumbago with sciatica. Therefore, the Veteran has a current disability, and the first requirement of service connection has been met. See Saunders, 1361. The Veteran's service treatment records note that he reported inguinal groin pain in May and June 2006. In his July 2007 post-deployment health assessment, the Veteran reported that he had swollen, stiff, or painful joints as well as muscle aches. In his March 2016 Notice of Disagreement, the Veteran stated that his sharp pain in the groin area first onset when he was lifting a heavy object during service in Iraq. The second requirement of service connection, an in-service incident, has also been met. Id. In October 2018, the Veteran told VA personnel he had symptoms of lumbar sciatica "for years." In his February 2017 VA Form 9 Substantive Appeal, the Veteran said that he had been treated for lumbar back issues since his separation from active-duty service. The March 2016 Notice of Disagreement indicated that the Veteran pinched a nerve in his back during service and that the pinched nerve was causing his current symptoms. The Veteran has competently and credibly reported a continuity of symptoms since his separation from service. The evidence is at least in equipoise that the Veteran's symptom of sciatica has been continuous since his separation from active-duty service; thus, service connection is warranted. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309; Walker, supra. The Board could remand for a medical examination and opinion; however, a request for another opinion could be construed as obtaining additional evidence for the sole purpose of denying a claim, which is impermissible. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(c) ("The development of evidence in connection with claims for service connection will be accomplished when deemed necessary but it should not be undertaken when evidence present is sufficient for this determination"); Gardner-Dickson v. Wilkie, 33 Vet. App. 50, 62 (2020) (Order) (denying petition for a writ of mandamus challenging a remand, but agreeing "with the petitioner that it 'would not be permissible for VA to undertake . . . additional development if a purpose was to obtain evidence against an appellant's case.'") (citing Mariano v. Principi, 17 Vet. App. 305, 312 (2003) and Hart v. Mansfield, 21 Vet. App. 505, 508 (2007)). For the foregoing reasons, the evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether the Veteran's sciatica is related to service. As the reasonable doubt created by this relative equipoise in the evidence must be resolved in favor of the Veteran, entitlement to service connection is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. K. R. Laffitte Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board R. Dean, 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.