Citation Nr: 22019845 Decision Date: 04/03/22 Archive Date: 04/03/22 DOCKET NO. 17-57 565 DATE: April 3, 2022 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a left hip disability, to include as secondary to service-connected right great toe disability, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from April 1989 to April 1993. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2014 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). This matter was remanded by the Board in April 2019 for additional development and is now before the Board again for adjudication. The Veteran has also appealed other issues. The Veteran did not request a hearing before the Board with regard to the claim for service connection for a left hip disability. The Veteran requested a hearing before the Board on other issues on appeal, which were addressed in an August 2021 Board hearing before another Veterans Law Judge. A Veterans Law Judge who conducts a hearing must participate in making the final determination of the claim involved. 38 U.S.C. §§ 7101, 7102, 7107; 38 C.F.R. § 20.604. Therefore, those other issues on appeal will be decided separately by the Veterans Law Judge that conducted the August 2021 hearing. Those issues will not be addressed in this decision. The Veteran claims that a left hip disability is secondary to a service-connected right great toe disability. He also claims that a left hip disability was caused by an incident when a ship that he was serving on collided with another ship. The service separation from shows that the Veteran's last duty assignment was aboard the USS Vincennes. He has submitted the Command History for 1991 in support of the claim, and it shows that the USS Vincennes collided with the USS Dubuque on October 29, 1991. However, the complete service personnel records are not of record. The Board finds that this appeal must be remanded so attempts can be made to obtain the outstanding service personnel records. Considering the Veteran's claim that a left hip disability was caused during that collision, the evidence corroborating the occurrence of that collision, and the note of a current diagnosis in a September 2017 VA examination report, the Board finds that the appeal should remanded so an opinion can be obtained regarding whether any left hip disability was caused by that collision. McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79 (2006). Additionally, in the April 2019 Board remand of this appeal, the Board directed the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) to obtain an opinion regarding whether any left hip disability was aggravated by a service-connected right great toe disability. An opinion was obtained in December 2019, and the examiner opined regarding whether a left hip disability was caused by a service-connected right toe injury, but the examiner did not opine whether any left hip disability was aggravated by the service-connected right great toe disability, as requested. Compliance with remand requests is required. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). Thus, the Board finds that this appeal should be remanded for an opinion regarding whether any left hip disability has been aggravated by a service-connected right great toe disability. The record shows that the Veteran obtains treatment from VA, any updated or otherwise outstanding VA treatment records should be obtained before the opinions are obtained. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Make adequate attempts are made to obtain all of the complete service personnel records. If it is determined that it is reasonably certain that no additional records or that further efforts to obtain them would be futile, notify the Veteran and allow him the opportunity to submit any service personnel records in his possession. 2. Obtain any updated or outstanding VA treatment records. 3. Schedule the Veteran for a VA examination with a medical doctor who has not previously examined him in conjunction with this claim, to obtain an opinion whether any left hip disability is related to service or was caused or aggravated by a service-connected right great toe disability. The examiner must review the claims file, consider, and, to the extent practical, discuss, the relevant evidence of record, to include the Veteran's lay assertions. The examiner should provide a rationale to support the opinions. In providing the requested opinion, the examiner must consider the Veteran's description of an injury in service and symptoms during and since service. If there is any medical reason to accept or reject the proposition that the reported injury and symptoms in service and thereafter represented the onset of that current disability, that should be stated. The examiner should opine whether the Veteran's reports about his symptoms align with how the currently diagnosed disability is known to develop or are generally inconsistent with medical knowledge or implausible. The examiner is specifically asked to provide a response to the following: (a.) Opine whether it is at least approximately as likely as not that any left hip disability is related to service or any event, injury, or disease in service, including an October 1991 collision between a ship that he was stationed on and another ship. (b.) Opine whether it is at least approximately as likely as not that any left hip disability is due to, the result of, or caused by a service-connected right great toe disability. (c.) Opine whether it is at least approximately as likely as not that any left hip disability has been aggravated (increased in severity beyond the natural progress of the disorder) by a service-connected right great toe disability. Harvey P. Roberts Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Banks, 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.