Citation Nr: 21032498 Decision Date: 05/27/21 Archive Date: 05/27/21 DOCKET NO. 16-33 068 DATE: May 27, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for right knee osteoarthritis is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for left knee osteoarthritis is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from June 1972 until September 1974. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2015 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regional office (RO) rating decision. The Veteran participated in a hearing before the undersigned in August 2019; a transcript is associated with the claims file. 1. Entitlement to service connection for right knee osteoarthritis is remanded. 2. Entitlement to service connection for left knee osteoarthritis is remanded. The Veteran participated in a July 2015 VA examination. Therein, the VA examiner opined that his bilateral arthritis is less likely caused by active duty or "the result of his service-connected right knee condition." The examiner reasoned that although the Veteran reported right knee pain during service, there is no medical documentation of a continuous right knee condition after service. The examiner ultimately concluded that his bilateral arthritis is the result of age-related degenerative changes. At an August 2019 hearing, the Veteran testified that his right knee was first injured in a Jeep accident in-service and that his symptoms have continued thereafter. The Veteran additionally stated that while his left knee disability onset after service, he believes that it is proximately due to or aggravated by his right knee disability. The Veteran has been consistent in his retelling of the in-service Jeep accident, and his service treatment records show treatment on his right knee. The Board finds the July 2015 VA examination inadequate. Specifically, the Board finds that the VA examination is based on an incorrect basis as the Veteran was never service-connected for a right knee condition; indeed, that is what the Veteran currently seeks. Reonal v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 458, 461 (1993). The Board additionally notes that the mere absence of medical records does not necessarily contradict the Veteran's statements about his symptom history. Buchanan v. Nicholson, 451 F.3d 1331, 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2006). Furthermore, in Miller v. Wilkie, 32 Vet. App. 249 (2020), the Court held that an examiner must address the Veteran's lay statements to provide an adequate medical opinion. Here, the July 2015 examiner failed to incorporate the Veteran's lay contentions regarding continuity of symptomatology or discuss his in-service Jeep accident in the nexus opinion. As such, it fails Miller, and remand is required to obtain an addendum VA medical opinion to consider these contentions. Additionally, the Veteran has argued that his left knee condition derives from his right knee one. Because a decision on the right knee claim remanded here could significantly impact a decision on the issue of entitlement to service connection for a left knee disability, the issues are inextricably intertwined. Remand of the inextricably intertwined service connection claim is therefore required as well. Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180 (1991). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Obtain an addendum VA medical opinion regarding the nature and etiology of the Veteran's left and right knee disability. The need for another VA examination (or telehealth interview, review of the record, or similar, if an in-person examination is not feasible) is left to the discretion of the VA examiner. The entire claims folder must be reviewed. The VA examiner must provide separate well-reasoned opinions as to each of the following: (a) Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran's left knee disability onset in service, within a year of service, or is otherwise directly related to service? (b) Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran's right knee disability onset in service, within a year of service, or is otherwise directly related to service? (c) Is it at least as likely as not that the Veteran's left knee disability was caused or aggravated by his right knee disability? In answering these questions, the examiner must specifically discuss and comment on the Veteran's competent and credible lay contentions that he first injured his knees in a Jeep accident in-service and that his knee symptoms have continued thereafter. Caroline B. Fleming Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Finelli, 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.