Citation Nr: 21022855 Decision Date: 04/19/21 Archive Date: 04/19/21 DOCKET NO. 16-14 649 DATE: April 19, 2021 REMANDED Service connection for low back condition is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from May 1960 to October 1980. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2015 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which denied the Veteran’s attempt to reopen a claim of service connection for a low back condition for failure to submit new and material evidence. The Veteran’s notice of disagreement was received in April 2015 and the RO issued a statement of the case in March 2016, which also addressed the underlying claim on its merits while still finding no new and material evidence. The Veteran perfected his appeal with a VA Form 9 later that month. The Veteran testified at a Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in August 2018. In an April 2019 decision, the Board dismissed the issue of service connection for left knee disability and reopened the Veteran’s claim of service connection for low back disability and remanded the underlying service connection issue for further development. In December 2020, the Board again remanded this case for further development. 1. Service connection for low back condition is remanded. Unfortunately, another remand is necessary in the case. Although the December 2020 addendum opinion states that the Veteran’s lay statements regarding ongoing symptoms were considered, the bulk of the rationale relies on the lack of medical treatment records during the period between service and his first post-service arthritis workup October 2010. Therefore, another addendum opinion is necessary. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran’s low back disability is at least as likely as not (a degree of probability of 50 percent or higher) related to his in-service back complaints in November 1964 and December 1975. In providing this opinion, the examiner must consider the Veteran’s lay statements regarding back pain after his initial complaints documented in the STRs. The Veteran has reported that he did not seek treatment for his back symptoms because he was told by a private doctor in 1984 that there was no medical remedy for his condition beyond treating the pain, so he just self-treated until the pain became severe. Therefore, the examiner cannot rely solely on a lack of documented treatment to dismiss the Veteran’s lay statements regarding ongoing back symptoms and support a negative opinion. If the examiner finds the lack of documented treatment significant in determining the etiology of the current lumbar spine disability, he or she must explain why this is significant, given that the Veteran has indicated ongoing symptoms which he self-treated for years until the pain became severe. Additionally, if the examiner finds that the current back disability is not related to the back complaints noted in service, the examiner must explain why the Veteran’s lay statements of continuing to experience back symptoms after the complaints noted in the STRs do not constitute evidence of a link between the complaints noted in service and the current back disability. M. HYLAND Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board B. Houbeck 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.