BVA9500523 DOCKET NO. 93-08 315 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida THE ISSUES 1. Entitlement to service connection for a left hip disorder. 2. Entitlement to a temporary total rating for convalescence following hospitalization and surgery for left total hip replacement. 3. Entitlement to service connection for a left shoulder disorder. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Alice A. Booher, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran had active service from October 1942 to October 1945. The veteran has service connection for post-operative residuals of a right total knee replacement, for which a 30 percent rating has been assigned since December 1989; lumbosacral strain, for which a 20 percent rating has been assigned since 1969; paralysis, peroneal nerve, left lower extremity, evaluated as 10 percent disabling from 1975; and burn scars of the face, neck, shoulders and chest, rated as zero percent disabling. This appeal is taken from a rating action by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Petersburg, Florida in August 1992. Statements by the veteran are construed as a claim for entitlement to service connection for left knee disability as secondary to service-connected right knee disability. The veteran has not submitted evidence in support of this claim and it does not appear to be well-grounded on its face; the Board will not accept jurisdiction of the matter at this time. CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL In substance, it is argued that the veteran's right knee disorder has precipitated the problems involving his left hip and left shoulder. DECISION OF THE BOARD The Board, in accordance with the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104 (West 1991), has reviewed and considered all of the evidence and material of record in the veteran's claims file. Based on its review of the relevant evidence in this matter, and for the following reasons and bases, it is the decision of the Board that the veteran's claim for service connection for a left hip disorder requiring total left hip replacement, a temporary total rating for convalescence following hospitalization and surgery for left total hip replacement, and service connection for a left shoulder disorder is not well-grounded, and absent a question of fact or law over which the Board has jurisdiction, the case is dismissed. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The veteran has not submitted any credible evidence that he has a left hip disorder or a left shoulder disorder which resulted from his other service-connected disabilities including a right knee disorder. 2. The veteran has not submitted any credible evidence that his 1992 total left hip replacement was for service-connected disability. 3. VA and private treatment records do not reflect a medical opinion that there is a causal relationship between the veteran's left hip or left shoulder disorders and other service-connected disabilities including a right knee disorder. CONCLUSION OF LAW The veteran's claim for service connection for a left hip disorder requiring total hip replacement, a temporary total rating for convalescence following hospitalization and surgery for left total hip replacement, and service connection for a left shoulder disorder is not well-grounded, and there is no question of law or fact over which the Board has jurisdiction. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5107(a), 7105(d)(5) (West 1991). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION Service connection may be granted for disability which is the result of service-connected disease or injury. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310. A total (100 percent) disability rating will be assigned without regard to other provisions of the rating schedule when it is established by report at hospital discharge or outpatient release that entitlement is warranted...Total ratings will be assigned if treatment of a service-connected disability resulted in: (1) Surgery necessitating at least one month of convalescence; (2) Surgery with severe postoperative residuals such as incompletely healed surgical wounds, stumps of recent amputations, therapeutic immobilization of one major joint or more, application of a body cast, or the necessity for home confinement, or the necessity for the continued use of a wheelchair or crutches (regular weight bearing prohibited); (3) Immobilization by cast, without surgery, of one major joint or more. 38 C.F.R. § 4.30. (Emphasis added.) In pertinent part, the veteran has service connection for a right knee disability which was initially described on his separation examination as a history of a right knee sprain in 1942, and demonstrated on that examination as a "tumor" (later described as a Baker's cyst in the popliteal area behind the right knee). On a VA examination in 1947 the veteran gave a history of having fallen and hurt his right knee in service. After excision of the cyst from the popliteal area behind the right knee, a rating action in 1947 added "limitation of motion" to the overall right knee disability. The 30 percent schedular rating for right knee disability has been in effect since 1981. The veteran and his representative have not contended and it is not shown that left hip or left shoulder disability was present in or is related to active service. The veteran argues that his service-connected disabilities, particularly those involving his right knee, have caused his left sided difficulties involving his left hip and precipitated a fall on his left shoulder in January 1991. While it may be conceded that the veteran can describe symptoms and attest to falls or injuries, there is no evidence that he is competent to determine etiology of any of his physical disabilities. The current evidence provided by the veteran as well as VA and private treatment records and evaluations do not reflect any medical opinion that there is a causal relationship between any of his already service-connected disabilities and any left shoulder disorder or left hip disability. The veteran, as a lay person, is not qualified to determine medical causation. Espiritu v. Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 492 (1992). In Boeck v. Brown, 6 Vet.App. 14 (1993), the United States Court of Veterans Appeals (the Court) held that A veteran claiming entitlement to VA benefits has the burden of submitting evidence sufficient to justify a belief by a fair and impartial individual that the claim is well grounded. See 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107, and see Tirpak v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 609, 610-11 (1992). If a claim is not well grounded, the Board does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate that claim. See Grottveit v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 9l, 93 (l993). Since the veteran has not submitted or identified any medical evidence or opinion that he has a left hip or left shoulder disorder which is the result of his service-connected disabilities including service-connected right knee disability, his claim is not well-grounded. In light of Grivois v. Brown, 6 Vet.App. 136 (1994), purported adjudication of claims which are not well-grounded are a nullity in contemplation of law. Similarly, since the veteran has not submitted a well-grounded claim for service connection for a left hip disorder, his claim for convalescent benefits following the total left hip replacement pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 4.30 is also not well- grounded. The Board may dismiss any appeal which fails to allege specific error of fact or law in the determination being appealed. 38 U.S.C.A. § 7105(d)(5). Since the veteran's claim is not well grounded and does not present a question of fact or law over which the Board has jurisdiction, the case is dismissed 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5107(a), 7l05(d)(5). However, the Board notes that if the veteran were to submit competent medical evidence relating left hip or left shoulder disabilities to service or to any of his service-connected disabilities, his claim would be well grounded. Robinette v. Brown, No. 93-985 (U.S. Vet. App. Oct. 21, 1994) ORDER The veteran's claim for service connection for a left hip disorder, a temporary total rating for convalescence following hospitalization and surgery for left total hip replacement, and service connection for a left shoulder disorder, is dismissed. THOMAS J. DANNAHER Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals The Board of Veterans' Appeals Administrative Procedures Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-271, § 6, 108 Stat. 740, ___ (1994), permits a proceeding instituted before the Board to be assigned to an individual member of the Board for a determination. This proceeding has been assigned to an individual member of the Board. NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7266 (West 1991), a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals granting less than the complete benefit, or benefits, sought on appeal is appealable to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals within 120 days from the date of mailing of notice of the decision, provided that a Notice of Disagreement concerning an issue which was before the Board was filed with the agency of original jurisdiction on or after November 18, 1988. Veterans' Judicial Review Act, Pub. L. No. 100-687, § 402 (1988). The date which appears on the face of this decision constitutes the date of mailing and the copy of this decision which you have received is your notice of the action taken on your appeal by the Board of Veterans' Appeals.