Citation Nr: 22038176 Decision Date: 07/05/22 Archive Date: 07/05/22 DOCKET NO. 17-38 881 DATE: July 5, 2022 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a partial resection of the coccyx is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, a partial resection of the coccyx was performed in service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria to establish service connection for a back disorder have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1110, 1131, 1154(a), 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active-duty service from January 1965 to January 1968. In October 2021, the Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge during a virtual hearing, and a transcript is of record. Service Connection Service connection may be established for a disability resulting from diseases or injuries which are clearly present in service or for a disease diagnosed after discharge from service, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Establishing service connection generally requires medical or, in certain circumstances, lay evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the present disability. Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2009). If a chronic disease, is shown in service, subsequent manifestations of the same chronic disease at any later date, however remote, may be service connected, unless clearly attributable to intercurrent causes. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (b). If a condition noted during service is not shown to be chronic, then generally a showing of continuity of symptomatology after service is required for service connection if the disability is one that is listed in 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (a). The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) has held that the theory of continuity of symptomatology under 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (b) does not apply to any condition that has not been recognized as chronic under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (a). Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2013). If a condition noted during service is not shown to be chronic, then generally, a showing of continuity of symptoms after service is required for service connection. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (b). Service connection may also be granted for any disease initially diagnosed after service when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (d). 1. Entitlement to service connection for removal of the coccyx As was clarified at his hearing before the Board, in October 2021, the Veteran is claiming entitlement to service connection for a partial removal of the coccyx. After a review of the evidence of record, the Board determines that service connection should be granted. Specifically, the Veteran's service treatment records reflect that, in September 1966, at least a portion of the Veteran's tailbone was removed during recovery for the removal of a pilonidal cyst. He is currently service-connected for residuals of the cyst removal. It is noted that a VA examiner stated in June 2016 that the coccyx was not removed. However, this does not explain why the service treatment records would have documented such a removal. Moreover, unlike some other disorders, the Board does not consider a resection of the coccyx to be something that would improve over time. In sum, the Board finds that the in-service notation that the coccyx was removed to be dispositive, and service connection should be granted on this basis. 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. B.T. KNOPE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board D. Billinger, Associate Counsel