Citation Nr: 21029204
Decision Date: 05/12/21	Archive Date: 05/12/21

DOCKET NO. 11-17 490
DATE: May 12, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper extremities is remanded.

Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from February 1964 to February 1967.

These matters come before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

A December 2020 Joint Motion for Remand (JMR) from the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) is of record. 

1. Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper extremities is remanded.

2. Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities is remanded.

In the December 2020 JMR, it was noted that the Board failed to ensure compliance with its September 2017 remand directives which ordered a new VA examination and instructed the examiner to consider and discuss the Veteran's competent lay reports of numbness of the legs and cramps in the legs since service, which both the November 2017 and subsequent March 2019 VA examinations failed to do.  The JMR also noted that the November 2017 VA examination which the Board relied on was internally inconsistent.  The JMR instructed the Board to provide the Veteran with a new VA examination. 

Additionally, the JMR notes that there are outstanding private treatment records from Dr. G which have not been obtained.  

As such, remand is warranted for a new VA examination and to obtain outstanding treatment records. 

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Ask the Veteran to complete a VA Form 21-4142 for his private treatment to include from Dr. G.  Make two requests for the authorized records unless it is clear after the first request that a second request would be futile.

2. Obtain all outstanding VA treatment records. 

3. After all outstanding records have been obtained schedule the Veteran for a new VA examination for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities.  The claims file must be reviewed in conjunction with the examination.  The examiner must identify all neurological conditions of the upper and lower bilateral extremities, and for each must opine as to whether it is at least as likely as not such is related to military service.

In so opining, the examiner must consider and discuss the Veteran's lay reports of numbness of the hands, particularly the right, and legs since service, and cramps in the legs since service.  The Board notes that such complaints may predate a diagnosis of diabetes.

The Veteran is to be presumed competent for the limited purpose of this examination.   

 

Jennifer White

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	A. Wimbish, 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.