Citation Nr: 21011628
Decision Date: 03/02/21	Archive Date: 03/02/21

DOCKET NO. 15-25 314
DATE: March 2, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The appellant is the surviving spouse of the Veteran who served on active duty from September 1980 to September 1984.  The Veteran died in September 2011 and the death certificate lists the cause of death as prostate cancer.  

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regional office.  In February 2017, the appellant testified during a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.  The Board denied the claim in August 2018, and the appellant appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).  In November 2019, the Court granted a Joint Motion for Remand (JMR) in which the parties agreed to vacate the August 2018 decision and remand the matter to the Board.  The JMR concluded that VA failed in its duty to assist when it did not obtain a sufficient medical opinion or acquire additional medical records.

Consistent with the JMR, the Board finds remand is warranted to obtain records from the Salem VA Medical Center (VAMC), Blue Ridge Cancer Center and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.  Then, a medical opinion should be obtained.  

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

1. With the appellant’s assistance as necessary, obtain any outstanding treatment records, to specifically include records from the Salem VAMC dated in August and September 2011, the Blue Ridge Cancer Center (possibly now called the Carilion Cancer Center), and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (now the Joint Pathology Center).

2. After records development is completed, the claims file should be sent to an appropriate examiner to offer an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran’s prostate cancer (1) onset during service or within one year of service, or is otherwise related to an in-service injury, event or disease; or (2) is the result of the Veteran’s exposure to contaminated water while stationed at Camp LeJeune.  

In offering the opinion, the examiner is asked to consider the medical opinion by Dr. M.K. dated June 2020.

(Continued on the next page.)

  

A rationale for all opinions offered is requested as adjudicators are precluded from making any medical findings. 

 

 

Nathan Kroes

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	T. Jarman, 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.