Citation Nr: 21021330 Decision Date: 04/12/21 Archive Date: 04/12/21 DOCKET NO. 16-26 495 DATE: April 12, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for bilateral foot peripheral neuropathy is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s bilateral foot peripheral neuropathy is etiologically related to an injury in service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria to establish service connection for bilateral foot peripheral neuropathy have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5103, 5103A, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from September 1966 to September 1968. The Veteran served in Vietnam. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2015 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which denied the Veteran service connection for bilateral foot peripheral neuropathy. In October 2018, the Board remanded the Veteran’s claim to the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) for further action consistent with the Board’s remand directives. Specifically, the Board remanded the claims to afford the Veteran a VA examination and to provide an additional opportunity for the Veteran to identify or submit VA treatment records or private medical records. The claims are back before the Board for further appellate proceedings. The Board finds there has been substantial compliance with its remand directives, and the claim is ripe for adjudication. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). A Veteran is entitled to VA disability compensation if there is a disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131. Generally, to establish a right to compensation for a present disability, a veteran must show: (1) a present disability; (2) an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service, the so-called “nexus” requirement. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all of the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that a disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). The Veteran has bilateral foot peripheral neuropathy. See August 2019 VA examination report; see also VA treatment records. He contends that his peripheral neuropathy started after he fell off a burning truck and his feet became painful and worsened to include numbness. See September 2019 VA treatment records. Thus, the first and second Shedden elements are met and not in dispute. In reviewing the Veteran’s lay contentions, a VA clinician opined that the Veteran’s neuropathy was likely a result of his military injury sustained after falling off a burning truck. Id. The clinician is a medical professional who reviewed the Veteran’s past medical history, radiographic images, and lay statements to form her opinion. The Board finds the clinician’s opinion probative. Thus, the third Shedden element is met. Accordingly, the Board finds that the Veteran’s bilateral foot peripheral neuropathy is etiologically related to service. Therefore, the criteria for service connection for the Veteran’s bilateral foot peripheral neuropathy have been met. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303; Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 9, 55-57 (1990). DONNIE R. HACHEY Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board A. Strickland 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.