Citation Nr: 21023686 Decision Date: 04/21/21 Archive Date: 04/21/21 DOCKET NO. 16-28 873 DATE: April 21, 2021 REMANDED Service connection for hypertension (claimed as high blood pressure) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from June 1992 to August 2012. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2013 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Denver, Colorado. The Veteran testified at a video conference hearing before a Veterans Law Judge in October 2018. A transcript of the hearing is of record. The Veterans Law Judge who conducted the October 2018 hearing is no longer employed by the Board. The law requires that the Veterans Law Judge who conducts a hearing participate in the decision in an appeal. See 38 U.S.C. § 7107 (c); 38 C.F.R. § 20.707. The Veteran was informed of this in a March 2021 letter and instructed to respond within 30 days if he desired a new hearing. The Veteran did not respond during that period and so the Board will proceed to adjudicate this claim on its merits. In June 2019, the Board remanded the issue of service connection for hypertension for further development. Service connection for hypertension (claimed as high blood pressure) is remanded. Unfortunately, another remand is necessary in this case. As noted in the prior remand, a medical nexus opinion is necessary on the question of whether the Veteran’s current hypertension is causally related to his borderline hypertension or pre-hypertension in service noted by the July 2013 VA examiner. The November 2019 examiner rendered a negative opinion, finding that the claims file was silent for any complaint, diagnosis, or treatment of hypertension either during or since separation from service. This is inconsistent with the VA treatment records, which suggest a diagnosis of and treatment for hypertension during this period. Specifically, a December 2015 VA treatment record shows that he was prescribed blood pressure medication, which inherently suggests high blood pressure and possibly hypertension. Later VA treatment records note well-controlled hypertension. For VA rating purposes, the term hypertension has a specific definition that encompasses high blood pressure with diastolic blood pressure of predominantly 90 millimeters (mm) or greater, or isolated systolic hypertension with systolic blood pressure of predominantly 160 mm or greater and diastolic blood pressure of less than 90 mm. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.104, DC 7101, Note 1. Hypertension or isolated systolic hypertension must be confirmed by readings taken two or more times on at least three different days. Id. It is unclear whether the November 2019 DBQ’s finding of no hypertension was based on this distinction or a misreading of the medical evidence. As such a new opinion is necessary to clarify whether the Veteran’s high blood pressure meets the criteria of hypertension for VA purposes and, if so, whether it is causally related to what was described as borderline hypertension or pre-hypertension in service by the July 2013 VA examiner. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician regarding whether the Veteran’s high blood pressure during the course of this appeal meets the criteria of hypertension for VA purposes. If so, the clinician must opine as to whether the current hypertension is at least as likely as not (a degree of probability of 50 percent or higher) related to the blood pressure readings that the July 2013 VA examiner described as borderline hypertensive in service or is otherwise related to his active duty military service. 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.