Citation Nr: 21029338 Decision Date: 05/13/21 Archive Date: 05/13/21 DOCKET NO. 19-06 452 DATE: May 13, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to recognition of the Veteran's daughter, D.L., as a helpless child on the basis of permanent incapacity for self-support before attaining the age of 18 is remanded. [The claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, lumbar spine (back), bilateral ankle, and left elbow disabilities, the reopened claim for service connection for tinnitus, and the application to reopen previously denied service-connection claim for an eye disability are addressed in a separate Board decision/remand.] REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from October 1975 to October 1979. This appeal comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from a February 2017 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). VA law and regulations provide that veterans having a combined disability rating of 30 percent or more may be entitled to additional compensation for a child based on permanent incapacity for self-support. See 38 U.S.C. § 1115; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.4(b)(2), 3.356. In this case, the Board has remanded claims for service connection for lumbar spine, bilateral ankle, left elbow disabilities, and an application to reopen a previously denied service connection claim for an eye disability in a separate appellate decision. As a decision on the remanded claims could affect the outcome of the helpless child claim (i.e., allow the Veteran to meet the threshold requirement of a 30 percent combined disability rating), the claims are inextricably intertwined. See Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180 (1991). Therefore, this matter is being remanded, as well. In addition, the Board notes that a July 2016 private treatment record shows D.L. was treated at Nemours by Dr. Fox in June 2015, and that she was also treated by a primary care physician in December 2015. As these records are not associated with the record and are from the relevant period prior to D.L.'s 18th birthday in July 2016, on remand, the AOJ should attempt to obtain these records. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Veteran's daughter, D.L., to complete and return a VA Form 21-4142, Authorization and Consent to Release Information, for treatment from: Nemours Health facility, to include from prior to 2016; the private primary care physician where D.L. received treatment from 2015; as well as any other provider from any other periods that she received treatment. 2. After completing the requested actions on the claims for service connection for lumbar spine, bilateral ankle, left elbow disabilities, and the application to reopen a previously denied service connection claim for an eye disability, and adjudicating these claims, conduct any other development as may be indicated for the helpless child claim, if the Veteran meets the threshold requirement of having a combined disability rating of 30 percent or more. A. P. SIMPSON Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Sarah Campbell, 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.