Citation Nr: 22044149
Decision Date: 08/03/22	Archive Date: 08/03/22

DOCKET NO. 16-56 693
DATE: August 3, 2022

ORDER

Service connection for a gastrointestinal disability is granted.

FINDING OF FACT

The evidence of record shows that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's gastrointestinal disability is etiologically related to service.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for a gastrointestinal disability have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from April 2003 to March 2008. In a February 2015 rating decision, the Regional Office (RO) denied his claim for service connection for a gastrointestinal disability, namely, ileitis initially claimed as an irritable bowel syndrome. The Veteran appealed. In May 2022, he testified at a Board hearing, the transcript of which is of record.

Service connection is generally granted for a disability incurred in or incidental to service. See 38 U.S.C. § 1110; C.F.R. § 3.303. Establishing an entitlement to this benefit generally requires the evidence to show: (1) the existence of claimed disability; (2) a relevant in-service trauma; and (3) a causal link between the two. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004).

In seeking service connection, the Veteran maintains that his ileitis (Crohn's Disease initially suspected as an irritable bowel syndrome) diagnosed after service had onset therein. He explains that he had the onset of the associated symptoms, to include recurrent nausea and vomiting, bouts of diarrhea as often as 6 to 7 times per day, and bloody stools lasting for as long as one month, which are documented in his service treatment records (STRs) and were assessed as gastrointestinal infections. This much is corroborated by his STRs, to include the symptoms and diagnoses well annotated in the sick call and progress notes from June 2005, May and July 2006, and January 2007.

A July 2016 VA examination report further reflects an unequivocal medical opinion that the Veteran has been clinically diagnosed with chronic ileitis that is at least as likely as not etiologically related to his service, particularly given the documented history of recurrence of the associated symptoms ever since service. Although the RO rejected this favorable medical nexus opinion due to the examiner's omission of the detailed discussion of the Veteran's STRs rather than seeming relying only the Veteran's own statements and his post-service treatment history, the purported facts upon which the examiner formed the opinion are wholly consistent with and fully corroborated by the Veteran's STRs. By implication, notwithstanding the source of the information and omission of a more detailed discussion, the Board finds no deficiencies in the examiner's opinion, which was based on a clear understanding of the facts of the case.   

Ultimately, absent any persuasive evidence placing into doubt the conclusive clinical diagnosis of ileitis which essentially is a chronic gastrointestinal infection ongoing since service, the diagnoses of gastrointestinal infections on at least four discrete occasions over the period of two years as well as the onset and recurrence of the associated symptomatology during service, and a medical opinion that ileitis is at least as likely as not etiologically related to service, the Board finds that the criteria for service connection for a gastrointestinal disability are met. 

Accordingly, the appeal is granted.  

 

MATTHEW W. BLACKWELDER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Alex Bardin, 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.