Citation Nr: 21014318 Decision Date: 03/11/21 Archive Date: 03/11/21 DOCKET NO. 12-27 046A DATE: March 11, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to a rating in excess of 10 percent for right knee patellofemoral syndrome is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from June 1987 to February 1997, and from January 2008 to March 2009. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a May 2011 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which, in pertinent part, denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for right knee patellofemoral syndrome. In May 2011, VA received the Veteran’s Notice of Disagreement (NOD). Following the issuance of a Statement of the Case (SOC) in September 2012, the Veteran perfected a timely appeal via his submission of a VA Form 9 in October 2012. The Veteran appeared at a Board hearing before the undersigned in July 2019. A transcript is of record. This matter was previously before the Board in December 2019 when it was remanded for additional development, specifically to obtain outstanding treatment records and schedule a VA Compensation and Pension examination. The Veteran did not report for the examination which was scheduled in accordance with the December 2019 remand directives, yet there appears to be some extenuating circumstances. Specifically, there appears to be some confusion as to the appropriate residence address to send the exam notice. Notice of the exam was sent to the Veteran at a residence located in Muskegon, Michigan, in December 2019; however, a review of the claim file indicates the Veteran has reported different residence addresses in Detroit and Muskegon during the appellate period. In fact, he recently provided a different address from which the December 2019 exam notice was sent when he submitted Form VA 21-0966, Intent to File, and Form VA 21-22, Appointment of Veterans Service Organization, in September 2020. Adding to the confusion, VA has sent correspondence to the Veteran at this most recently reported address during the appellate period; however, the correspondence was returned in December 2018, October 2020 and November 2020. At one point a December 2019 computer database record states the Veteran himself cancelled the scheduled exam; there is no way to independently verify it. To ensure proper development of the issue, the RO should verify the Veteran’s address and re-schedule the examination. The Veteran is advised that under 38 C.F.R. § 3.655, when entitlement to a benefit cannot be established without a current VA examination or reexamination and a claimant, without good cause, fails to report for such examination or reexamination scheduled in connection with a claim for increase, the claim shall be denied. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain VA treatment records for the period from August 2020 to the present. 2. Schedule the Veteran for a medical examination to determine the severity of his service-connected right knee disability. Access to the Veteran’s electronic claims file should be made available to the examiner for review in connection with his or her opinion. A copy of the notification to the Veteran of the examination should be included in the record. The examiner should specifically delineate all current right knee symptoms and pathology, to include identifying the presence or absence of the following: pain, limitation of flexion and extension, subluxation, instability, meniscal pathology, locking, or effusion. The examiner must also elicit information regarding the severity, frequency, and duration of any flare-ups, and the degree of functional loss during flare-ups and after repeated use over time. To the extent possible, the examiner should express any additional functional loss due to flare-ups and repeated use over time in degrees of range of motion lost. The examiner should consider the relevant evidence of record, to include the Veteran’s lay reports of instability and giving way, January 2012 VA clinical records showing that the Veteran was issued a hinged knee brace for arthritis, and October 2012 MRI findings of mucinous degeneration of the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus, a sprain of the medial collateral ligament, and a sprain versus tear of the anterior cruciate ligament. K. Conner Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board A.N., 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.