Citation Nr: 21006644
Decision Date: 02/04/21	Archive Date: 02/04/21

DOCKET NO. 13-25 514
DATE: February 4, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a lung disorder, claimed as a result of asbestos exposure, is remanded.

Entitlement to service connection for a lumbar spine disability is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from September 1975 to September1979. The Veteran died in April 2018. In April 2020, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) recognized the Veteran's surviving spouse as a valid substitute for the issue on appeal. See April 2020 Correspondence.  Accordingly, the Appellant has been substituted as the claimant, and the issue on appeal has been recharacterized to reflect substitution. 

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2010 rating decision of the RO in Portland, Oregon.  The Veteran testified at a travel board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) in September 2014.  A transcript is of record. This matter was remanded by the Board multiple times, most recently in August 2020, for further development. 

1. Entitlement to service connection for a lung disorder, claimed as a result of asbestos exposure, is remanded.

2. Entitlement to service connection for a lumbar spine disability is remanded.

Unfortunately, another remand is necessary as there has not been substantial compliance with the directives of the August 2020 Board remand. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998) (a remand confers upon the claimant, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with the remand directives); Dyment v. West, 13 Vet. App. 141, 146-47 (1999) (noting that Stegall requires substantial compliance with remand orders, rather than absolute compliance).

The August 2020 Board Remand instructed the RO to obtain the Veteran’s treatment records from Samaritan Albany General Hospital and other private medical providers.  It does not appear that these records were obtained. Therefore, remand is necessary in order to comply with the August 2020 Board Remand instructions. 

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Obtain the Veteran’s treatment records from Samaritan Albany General Hospital, dated in April 2018; Samaritan Albany Pulmonology, dated from January 2017 to April 2018; Vincent Gimino, M.D., the Corvallis Clinic, dated from July 2017 to April 2018; Donald Gallup. M.D. and Rose Miller, M.D., Calapooia Family Medicine Group, dated from December 2017 to April 2018; as well as his complete records from Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.

The Board notes that the Veteran’s VA treatment records reflect that many of his private treatment records had been scanned.  Instructions provide that “To view or print the scanned original: 1.) You must be logged into CPRS. 2.)  Click on 'VistA Apps' from the toolbar. 3.) Click on 'VistA Imaging Display.’”  These private treatment records must be made available for review as part of the Veteran’s file.

 

 

P.M. DILORENZO

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	T. Mohammad

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.