Citation Nr: 21016134
Decision Date: 03/19/21	Archive Date: 03/19/21

DOCKET NO. 14-13 959
DATE: March 19, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a left knee disorder, to include as secondary to a thoracolumbar spine disorder, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active service from December 1969 to December 1972, with service in Vietnam from November 1970 to September 1971. This case comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2013 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Fort Harrison, Montana. Jurisdiction of the matter has since been transferred to the RO in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

The Veteran provided testimony before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in August 2014. 

The claim was previously remanded in December 2015, April 2018, and November 2020. The appeal has since been returned for further appellate review. The Board finds that there has been substantial compliance with the prior remand directives.  See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998).

1. Entitlement to service connection for a left knee disorder, to include as secondary to a thoracolumbar spine disorder, is remanded. 

Remand is required to obtain an adequate opinion.  Where VA provides the veteran with an examination in a service connection claim, the examination must be adequate.  Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 311 (2007). Here, service connection may be granted where a disability is diagnosed during service, or where a later-diagnosed disability is found to be related to an in-service event – no in-service diagnosis is required.  38 C.F.R. § 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Here, both the July and December 2020 opinions, provided by the same VA examiner, were that any current left knee disorder could not be related to active service as there was no record of arthritis or pseudo gout during active duty.  This is not a requirement for service connection; rather a current disability may be related to an in-service event, even if a disability is not diagnosed until later.  Accordingly, an addendum opinion is required.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain an addendum opinion regarding the etiology of the left knee from a VA examiner.  The entire claims file must be made available to and be reviewed by the examiner.  If an examination is deemed necessary, it shall be provided.  An explanation for all opinions expressed must be provided.  

The examiner must provide an opinion regarding whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that any left knee disorder had onset in, or is otherwise related to, active service, specifically, to in-service left knee pain as noted in January 1970. The examiner is reminded that a diagnosis during service is not required. 

 

K. MILLIKAN

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	D. Braxton, 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.