Citation Nr: 21030910 Decision Date: 05/20/21 Archive Date: 05/20/21 DOCKET NO. 13-21 800 DATE: May 20, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral thumb disorder, to include deQuervain's tenosynovitis, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from March 2007 to June 2011. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2012 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In July 2013, the Veteran requested a hearing before a Veterans Law Judge. She was sent notice of the scheduled hearing date in May 2015. However, she failed to report for that hearing. She has not showed good cause for her failure to report or requested another hearing. Therefore, the hearing request is deemed withdrawn. 38 C.F.R. § 20.704(d). As a matter of procedural background, the Board previously remanded this claim in July 2017 for further development, and to schedule a VA examination. In November 2019, the Board denied the claim. The Veteran appealed that denial to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In December 2020, the Court granted a Joint Motion for Remand (JMR) in which the parties agreed that the prior Board decision would be vacated and the issue returned to the Board for further development, per the orders dictated in the JMR. The Board notes that the JMR identified specific duty to assist errors. The Board will address the duty to assist errors at this time, as they must be remedied prior to any further consideration of the claim on the merits. Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral thumb condition is remanded. The Veteran was afforded a VA examination in November 2017, which included a negative nexus opinion. The parties, in the JMR, have agreed that that opinion is inadequate because the examiner failed to address the Veteran's lay statements regarding onset, and continuity of symptoms since service. Additionally, the parties agreed that the examiner failed to provide an adequate rationale that addressed causation and aggravation as separate concepts. It was further noted that the Board previously found that the Veteran is competent to report her symptoms, as well as the onset of her symptoms. Therefore, the Board will remand this claim for an adequate addendum opinion which complies with the Court's December 2020 remand. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Invite the Veteran to submit any additional relevant evidence in support of her claim. The RO should obtain an addendum VA opinion from the examiner who provided the opinion in November 2017 regarding the Veteran's bilateral thumb disorder. If this examiner is not available, the claims file should be forwarded to a new examiner. The Examiner is asked to provide an addendum opinion as to whether the Veteran's bilateral thumb disorder is etiologically related to active duty service or to a service-connected disability In providing this opinion, the examiner should specifically address the Veteran's competent lay statements regarding the onset of her symptoms, as well as her continued symptomatology since service. The examiner should specifically discuss the Veteran's statements during an October 13, 2011 private medical treatment appointment regarding the onset of her symptoms. The examiner should also specifically address whether the Veteran's thumb disorder was caused or aggravated by her service-connected carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome. A new examination is not necessary unless deemed so by the examiner. B.T. KNOPE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board T. McDonald