Citation Nr: 22040128
Decision Date: 07/13/22	Archive Date: 07/13/22

DOCKET NO. 15-43 415
DATE: July 13, 2022

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for left shoulder disability is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from April 1992 to January 2013.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal of a January 2014 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

In February 2021, the Board denied the claim for entitlement to service connection for a left shoulder disability. The Veteran appealed the February 2021 Board decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). 

In March 2022, the Court granted a Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR) filed by representatives for both the Veteran and the VA Secretary, vacating the Board's decision as to its denial of entitlement to service connection for a left shoulder disability, and remanding the claim to the Board for further proceedings consistent with the JMPR.

In January 2019, the Veteran testified during a video conference hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of the hearing is associated with the claims file.

Left shoulder disability is remanded

The Veteran seeks entitlement to service connection for a left shoulder disability. The Veteran was provided a VA opinion as to his left shoulder disability in October 2020. VA has a duty to ensure that any medical examination or opinion it provides is adequate. Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 312 (2007). A medical opinion is adequate where it is based upon consideration of the full medical history and describes a disability in sufficient detail so that the Board's evaluation will be fully informed. Stefl v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 120, 123 (2007).

In providing the negative nexus opinion, the October 2020 VA examiner explained that the Veteran's left shoulder injury during service was acute only and that there was no injury of note present in his service treatment records. 

This rationale is insufficient because the examiner provided the Board with no explanation as to why he found that the Veteran's left shoulder injury during service as being acute only and why he found no injury of note being identified in his service treatment records, when the Veteran's service treatment records otherwise indicate when his pain began, and why this means his current left shoulder disability is unrelated to service. (December 1998 service treatment record notes that the Veteran's left shoulder pain started during a swim test).

As the October 2020 VA opinion is not adequate for decision-making purposes, the Veteran must be provided an addendum VA opinion (examination if required) to address whether the Veteran's left shoulder disability is related to an in-service event, injury, or disease, including the left shoulder pain noted in December 1998.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain an addendum VA opinion (examination if required) to answer whether the Veteran's diagnosed left shoulder disability had its onset in service or is etiologically related to service, to include as due to his in-service duties as a helicopter mechanic.

The examiner should note that the Veteran is competent to report the onset and the continuity of any symptomatology since service.

The Veteran asserts that he did not seek treatment for chronic left shoulder pain due to his concern for the adverse impact on his career, and he eventually became frustrated and did not seek treatment because he was merely prescribed Motrin without further investigation into the extent of his injury. 

 

R. FEINBERG

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	A. St. Laurent, 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.