Citation Nr: 21041259 Decision Date: 07/08/21 Archive Date: 07/08/21 DOCKET NO. 20-30 607 DATE: July 8, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for prostate cancer residuals, status post-prostatectomy, including as due to exposure to ionizing radiation, is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for skin cancer residuals, including as due to exposure to ionizing radiation, is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for tremors, bilateral hand, including as due to exposure to ionizing radiation, is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for vascular dementia, including as due to exposure to ionizing radiation, is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for colon cancer residuals, status post-operative, including as due to exposure to ionizing radiation, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND As a member of his State Army National Guard (ARNG), the Veteran had active duty training from June 1959 to December 1959. He active service from February 1961 to February 1964. The Veteran perfected this appeal from an August 2018 rating decision. He testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at a virtual Board hearing in May 2021. A transcript of the hearing is of record. 1. Entitlement to service connection for prostate, skin, and colon cancer residuals, and vascular dementia, all as due to exposure to ionizing radiation, is remanded. The Veteran asserts that he was a participant in an atomic bomb test in Nevada (NV) around 1961, and that he was issued a radiation badge upon arrival. See 04/17/2018 Radiation Risk Activity. In response to an Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) query, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) advised that Operation DOMINIC II was conducted at the NV test site from July 6 to August 16, 1962. See 06/21/2018 Correspondence. The Veteran was based in Greenland during that timeframe. See 02/02/2018 Military Personnel Record (MPR), 5th Entry, P. 77. The DTRA letter made no reference to any tests having been conducted in 1961. Further, neither did the letter indicate that a search for a radiation badge associated with the Veteran was conducted. The Board finds that this question should be asked to fully assist this Veteran. 2. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hand tremors, including as due to exposure to ionizing radiation, is remanded. The competent lay evidence of record, to include the Veteran's and his family members' testimony at the hearing, show that the Veteran's hands shook all of the time, beginning after his return from active service. His daughter testified that his nickname was [REDACTED]. See Hearing Transcript, P. 10. The Veteran's son testified that when asked why his hands shook, the Veteran would respond irritably that maybe he was nervous from drinking too much coffee. Records of his private physician note a lifelong hand and head tremor, and an essential tremor, but no apparent etiology was noted. See 04/17/2018 Medical Treatment-Non-Government Facility, 2nd Entry, P. 28, 90. On his December 1963 Report of Medical History for his physical examination at separation, the Veteran indicated a positive history for nervousness. The form does not reflect any further elaboration. See 02/02/2018 MPR, 5th Entry, P. 39. The Report of Medical Examination for Separation notes that his neurologic system was normal. Id. P. 37. The Board finds that the Veteran's 1963 notation on his medical history, combined with the lay evidence of record is sufficient to meet the criteria for symptoms of a current chronic disease that may have existed in service, and that the low threshold for an examination is triggered. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)(4), 3.309(a); see also McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79, 83 (2006). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. The AOJ shall contact the DTRA and specifically ask if any test operations were conducted at the NV test site during 1961; and, if a search was conducted for a radiation badge associated with the Veteran. Ask the DTRA to conduct a search if the answer is negative, and to please advise of the search results. 2. While awaiting a response from the DTRA, the AOJ shall ask the Veteran to provide, or give appropriate releases to the AOJ, the oldest treatment records extant still in the possession of his non-VA physician that are related to a neurological disorder. Allow a reasonable time for the Veteran and his family to respond. 3. Regardless of the nature of the DTRA's reply, and regardless of whether any additional records are added to the claims file, arrange an examination of the Veteran by an appropriate neurological examiner. Ask the examiner to identify all neurological symptomatology revealed by history and objective clinical examination and opine on the etiology for any neurological symptoms or disorder identified, to include whether an organic disease of the central nervous system is involved. Inform the examiner that the lay evidence of record, to include the Veteran's lay report of his history, must be considered. Eric S. Leboff Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board W. T. Snyder 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.