Citation Nr: 21006670 Decision Date: 02/04/21 Archive Date: 02/04/21 DOCKET NO. 15-36 945 DATE: February 4, 2021 REMANDED The issue of service connection for a right knee disability is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the Air Force from May 1956 to April 1960. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a May 2014 rating decision. In a March 2018 decision, the Board denied service connection for the Veteran’s right knee disability. The Veteran appealed the March 2018 decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In October 2018, the Court issued an order granting a Joint Motion for Remand (JMR), vacating the March 2018 decision and remanding for additional proceedings. In a June 2019 decision, the Board again denied the Veteran’s appeal. The Veteran appealed this decision to the Court, and in May 2020 the Court granted a JMR, which vacated the June 2019 decision and returned the matter to the Board for further consideration. In an October 2020 decision, pursuant to the May 2020 JMR, the Board remanded this matter to attempt to obtain relevant outstanding private treatment records. In November 2020, the agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) provided the Veteran a VA Form 21-4142a Authorization to Disclose Information to obtain the relevant outstanding private treatment records. As of the date of this decision, VA has not received any of the relevant outstanding private treatment records; however, a present review of the evidence of record indicates that the Veteran’s right knee disability may have had its onset during service and continued to the present. In the June 2014 notice of disagreement, the Veteran asserts that he injured his right knee during service while playing sports, sought medical treatment, and was told that he had knee strain. The Board notes that although the Veteran’s service treatment records (STRs) do not specifically indicate a diagnosis of right knee strain, the February 1958 STRs indicate that the Veteran experienced an injury to the right lower extremity while playing sports and was diagnosed as having tenosynovitis of the right ankle. Following service, the available private medical records indicate that the Veteran complained of pain in the right leg in July 1974, underwent right knee surgery for lipoma in 1982, and was diagnosed as having osteoarthritis of the right knee in February 2019. Further, in the June 2014 notice of disagreement, the Veteran asserts that since the in-service right knee injury, his right knee symptoms have continued to the present causing difficulties in completing the physical labor requirements of his employment. Therefore, the Board finds that the evidence indicates that the Veteran’s right knee disability may have had its onset during service and caused continuing symptoms of right knee pain to the present. Thus, the Board finds that the low threshold for obtaining a VA examination has been met in this case. A remand is therefore necessary at this time for the VA to properly fulfill its duty to assist in providing a VA examination. McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79 (2006). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Notify the Veteran that he may submit additional lay statements from himself, as well as from other individuals, who have first-hand knowledge, and/or were contemporaneously informed of his in-service and post-service right knee problems. The Veteran should be provided an appropriate amount of time to submit this lay evidence. 2. Schedule a VA examination (or telehealth interview, review of the record, etc. if an in-person examination is not feasible) to determine the nature, onset and etiology of the Veteran’s right knee impairment. The examiner must address the following: a. Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s right knee disability had its onset during service or is otherwise related to service? In providing the requested opinion, the examiner must acknowledge and discuss all pertinent medical and lay evidence of record, to include the Veteran’s competent assertions as to the nature, onset, and continuity of such problems since service. The examiner is advised that the absence of documented evidence of a diagnosis or associated symptoms during and shortly after service may not, alone, serve as the sole basis for a negative opinion. The examiner must acknowledge and discuss all lay statements submitted by the Veteran and others regarding his disability, which are competent evidence of right knee problems since service. A rationale for all opinions is to be provided. If the examiner cannot provide any of the requested opinions without resorting to speculation, he or she should provide an explanation stating why this is so. In so doing, the examiner should explain whether the inability to provide a more definitive opinion is the result of a need for additional information or that he or she has exhausted the limits of current medical knowledge in providing an answer to that particular question(s). STEVEN D. REISS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board A. Page-Nelson, 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.