## Facts

- A Vietnam combat veteran later developed multiple sclerosis (MS), diagnosed in the early 1980s.
- He sought VA service connection for MS, asserting that in-service and early post-service symptoms (including urinary problems, blurred vision, and leg/foot numbness) were early MS manifestations within the statutory presumptive period.
- The Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) denied service connection in 1986, finding no acceptable evidence of MS during service or within the presumptive period.
- The veteran later moved to reopen the claim and submitted additional evidence, including a VA neurologist’s report stating the MS began during Vietnam service and other expert medical opinions supporting a service connection theory.
- The BVA declined to reopen, finding the submissions not “material,” and rejected the medical opinions without relying on cited medical authority.

## Issues

1. Whether the veteran submitted “new and material evidence” sufficient to reopen a previously denied claim for service connection for MS under 38 U.S.C. § 5108.
2. Whether the BVA erred by discounting competent medical opinions based on the Board’s own medical conclusions rather than independent medical evidence.

## Decision

- The court held that the submitted medical opinions were “new and material” and required reopening of the claim.
- The court held that the BVA may not refute medical expert conclusions using the Board’s own unsubstantiated medical judgment.
- The court vacated the BVA decision and remanded for further proceedings consistent with reopening and proper evaluation of medical evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Evidence is “new and material” for reopening if it is not cumulative, bears directly and substantially on the matter at issue, and raises a reasonable possibility of a different outcome when considered with the full record.
- The BVA must base medical-related findings on independent medical evidence; it may not substitute its own medical opinion for competent medical expertise.
- If the medical record is inadequate to decide the claim, the BVA should develop the record (e.g., obtain an examination or independent medical opinion) rather than draw unsupported medical inferences.

## Conclusion

The court required reopening because competent medical opinions newly linked MS to service and could change the outcome, and it enforced the rule that the BVA cannot reject medical evidence based on its own unsupported medical conclusions but must rely on independent medical evidence or further medical development.


Colvin v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 171 (1991)