Citation Nr: 21023045 Decision Date: 04/20/21 Archive Date: 04/20/21 DOCKET NO. 14-36 065 DATE: April 20, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for glaucoma to include as secondary to diabetes mellitus is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served honorably in the United States Navy from April 1968 to January 1970. Although the Board regrets the delay, remand is required to ensure there is a complete record on which to decide the Veteran’s claim. Entitlement to service connection for glaucoma to include as secondary to diabetes mellitus is remanded. The Board remanded the Veteran’s claim for service connection for glaucoma to include as secondary to diabetes mellitus in March 2018 and June 2020 in order to obtain VA examinations. A review of the claims file indicates the AOJ obtained a VA examination in February 2021. However, the examination reports do not address all of the specifications as directed in the Board’s June 2020 remand, particularly with regard to the issues of direct service connection and aggravation of the Veteran’s glaucoma by the service-connected diabetes mellitus. The examiner did not provide an opinion regarding direct service connection. In regard to the question of aggravation, the examiner provided that glaucoma is not directly correlated to diabetes mellitus. The Board finds this rationale is insufficient to address if the Veteran’s glaucoma was aggravated by the service-connected diabetes mellitus. As the AOJ failed to follow the Board’s remand directives, this claim must be remanded again to obtain a VA examination. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998); see also 38 C.F.R. § 19.31(c). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the appropriate examiner to review the Veteran’s file regarding his glaucoma claim. The necessity of an in-person examination, with any appropriate testing, is left to the discretion of the examiner. The examiner should identify all eye disorder(s), to include glaucoma and retinopathy. Then, with respect to each diagnosed disorder, the examiner should provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the disorder: (a.) had its onset in service or is otherwise medically related to service; or (b.) was caused by or aggravated (permanently increased in severity beyond the natural progress of the condition) by a service-connected disability, specifically diabetes mellitus. A rationale for both causation and aggravation is required. If aggravation is found, the examiner should identify the baseline level of severity of the nonservice-connected disability to the extent possible. The examiner is asked to address the representative submitted article from Dr. Yvonne Ou of the BrightFocus Foundation (https://www.brightfocus.org/glaucoma/article/glaucoma-and-diabetes) as it relates to the Veteran’s glaucoma and service-connected diabetes. The examiner should set forth all examination findings, along with the complete rationale for any conclusions reached. A. S. CARACCIOLO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Laura C. Owens 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.