Citation Nr: 21006127 Decision Date: 02/03/21 Archive Date: 02/03/21 DOCKET NO. 16-28 886 DATE: February 3, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for chronic kidney disease and renal cell carcinoma is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, chronic kidney disease and renal cell carcinoma are the result of service-connected hypertension. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for chronic kidney disease and renal cell carcinoma, secondary to hypertension, have been met. 38U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1110, 1112, 1113, 1116, 1137, 5107; 3 8C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from December 1971 to March 1994. In December 2019, the Board remanded this case for additional development. The Board finds that there has been substantial compliance with the remand requests. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). Service Connection Service connection will be established for disability caused by disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. In order to establish service connection for a claimed disability, there must be (1) medical evidence of a current disability; (2) medical, or in certain circumstances, lay evidence of in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) evidence, generally medical, of a causal relationship between the claimed in service disease or injury and the current disability. Hickson v. West, 12 Vet. App. 247 (1999). A disability that is proximately due to or the result of a service connected disease or injury shall be service connected. When service connection is established for a secondary disability, the secondary disability shall be considered a part of the original disability. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(a). Secondary service connection may also be established for a non-service connected disability, which is aggravated by a service-connected disability. In that instance, the Veteran is compensated for the degree of disability over and above the degree of disability existing prior to the aggravation. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(b); Allen v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 439 (1995). Entitlement to service connection for a kidney disability, to include kidney cancer A November 1994 rating decision established service connection for diabetes mellitus and assigned a 10 percent rating, effective April 1, 1994. The Veteran was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2011. In July 2020, after an in-person examination, a review of the claims file, and consideration of the Veteran’s medical history, a VA examiner opined that renal cell carcinoma and chronic kidney disease were at least as likely as not proximately due to service-connected hypertension. As a rationale, the examiner explained that the Veteran had multiple risk factors for development of renal cell carcinoma including hypertension, and that hypertension was the “primary risk factor for development of chronic kidney disease.” The Board is not free to substitute its own judgment for that of a medical expert. Colvin v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 171 (1991). The probative value of medical evidence is based on the physician's knowledge and skill in analyzing the data, and the medical conclusions reached; as is true of any evidence, the credibility and weight to be attached to medical opinions are within the province of the Board. Guerrieri v. Brown, 4 Vet. App. 467 (1993). Here, the Board finds the medical opinion to be highly probative of the fact that a kidney disability is the result of service-connected hypertension. There are no contrary competent medical opinions. Accordingly, resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, the Board finds that service connection for chronic kidney disease and renal cell carcinoma is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). Harvey P. Roberts Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board E.O., 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.