BVA9506037 DOCKET NO. 93-10 222 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office and Insurance Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for asthma. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Vicky A. Eugene, Agent ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD James A. Frost, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from May 1962 to November 1962. This appeal arises from a rating decision in January 1992 by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) and Insurance Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A rating decision in March 1963 denied the veteran's original claim of entitlement to service connection for asthma. The RO has found that the veteran submitted new and material evidence warranting the reopening of his claim. Accordingly, the Board will consider the veteran's claim of entitlement to service connection for asthma on a de novo basis. After developing additional evidence in this case, the Board, in accordance with Thurber v. Brown, 5 Vet.App. 119 (1993), informed the appellant's representative in a January 1995 letter of the additional evidence developed and provided an opportunity to respond. The representative did not respond. CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL The veteran contends that asthma, which preexisted service, was aggravated during his period of active service. 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 preponderance of the evidence is against the veteran's claim. FINDING OF FACT Asthma, which preexisted service, did not increase in severity during service. CONCLUSION OF LAW Asthma was not incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1131, 1153, 5107 (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. § 3.306 (1994). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION Initially, the Board notes that the veteran's claim is "well grounded" within the meaning of 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a). That is, he has presented a claim which is plausible. The Board is also satisfied that all relevant facts have been properly developed. No further assistance to the veteran is required to comply with the duty to assist the veteran mandated by 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a). Service medical records disclose that, at a preinduction examination in February 1962, it was noted that the veteran had asthma, with "no medical record for past five years." In October 1962 he was admitted to a service department hospital. He had been treated since early childhood for asthma, with acute attacks of shortness of breath occurring many times each month for his entire life. He gave a vague history of having received desensitization shots at a private hospital in 1952, with no improvement. He had also taken Tedral tablets and many other types of oral medication, as well as injections. His visits to hospital emergency rooms in civilian life usually averaged once a month for acute attacks. One year earlier, he had received shots from a private hospital. He had been skin tested and found sensitive to feathers, eggs, milk, dust and animal dander, among other things. During his six months on active duty, he had visited a dispensary or outpatient clinic about 12 times; six of these visits had occurred during the previous month, while he was engaged in advanced infantry training. On examination the veteran was 5 feet 6 inches and weighed 138 pounds. He had slight wheezing and tachypnea, with a respiratory rate of 30. Examination of the lungs showed diffuse expiratory wheezing. A throat culture showed heavy growth of diplococci pneumoniae. During hospitalization the veteran received medication; he declined to use a nebulizer. He was fairly comfortable, but each morning moderate wheezing continued to be heard. Although he was not in acute distress, he still had symptoms of dyspnea on exertion and signs of moderately severe wheezing on expiration, when his lungs were examined. A medical board was convened and rendered a diagnosis of asthma, perennial, with allergies to feathers, eggs, milk, dust and animal dander. The medical board found the veteran physically unfit for retention on active duty, as a result of a condition which was not incurred in or aggravated during his period of active service. In connection with an attempt in January 1968 to reopen his claim, the veteran stated that he had not suffered from asthma for at least eight years prior to being drafted. In connection with a similar claim which he made in March 1977, the veteran stated, "I suffer with asthma all of my life." Service connection may be granted for disability resulting from injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1131. A preexisting disease will be considered to have been aggravated by active service where there is an increase in disability during such service, unless there is a specific finding that the increase in disability is due to natural progression of the disease. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1153; 38 C.F.R. § 3.306(a). A leading medical treatise states that, "Most asthmatic patients are diagnosed by a triad of episodic symptoms: Wheezing, cough and dyspnea. Characteristically, the signs and symptoms are highly variable in severity and duration. They may run the gamut from being completely absent for days, months and even years to being protracted and unresponsive to outpatient therapy...." James B. Wyngaarden and Lloyd H. Smith, Jr., eds. Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 403-10 (18th ed. 1988). In the veteran's case the Board finds that the history which he gave to service department medical personnel on admission to a hospital in October 1962 is much more credible than his later statement in 1968 that he did not suffer from asthma for eight years prior to service. The 1962 statement that he had had frequent, acute asthmatic attacks many times each month for his entire life has greater probative value, because it was made in the course of seeking medical treatment. The 1962 statement establishes that, prior to his entry upon active service, the veteran had repeated, significant episodes of asthma which required medical intervention and were disabling. Keeping in mind the characteristic variability of the signs and symptoms of asthma, as found by medical science, the record in this case fails to show an increase in disability related to asthma during the veteran's period of service. As the disability which existed prior to service did not increase in severity in service, aggravation of asthma did not occur during service and service connection for that disability is not established. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1131, 1153; 38 C.F.R. § 3.306. While the Board has considered the doctrine of affording the veteran the benefit of any existing doubt with regard to the issue on appeal, the record does not demonstrate an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence as to warrant resolution of this matter on that basis. 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(b). ORDER Service connection for asthma is denied. BRUCE KANNEE 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.