Acquired psychiatric disorder decisions — 2001

The Board denied the appellant's claims for DIC based on service connection for the cause of the veteran's death or continuous receipt of a total disability rating for ten years prior to his death. The RO assigned January 7, 1989 as the effective date due to VA hospitalization beginning that day.

The Board has determined that the veteran's paranoid schizophrenia warrants a 50 percent evaluation, reflecting significant occupational and social impairment.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for paraplegia as secondary to his service-connected schizophrenia due to a lack of new and material evidence.

The veteran's schizophrenia, characterized by symptoms including anxiety and depression, has resulted in occupational and social impairment warranting a 100 percent rating.

The Board found that the veteran did not have a current low back disability or psychiatric disorder to include PTSD, and thus denied both claims.

The veteran's schizophrenia has been shown to be productive of occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity, warranting a 70 percent evaluation.

The Board found no evidence of a chronic eye disability, back disability, or psychiatric disability separate from the service-connected residuals of cranial trauma with post-traumatic cephalalgia and migraine-type headaches. Therefore, service connection for these conditions was denied.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of residuals of schizophrenia, finding that the proper effective date is January 31, 2000.

The Board denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, adenocarcinoma of the colon, and bilateral defective hearing. The veteran's claims were not supported by competent medical evidence linking these conditions to his military service or exposure.

The Board denied an increased rating for schizophrenia, currently evaluated as 70 percent disabling. The decision was not CUE.

The Board found that the submitted evidence was not new and material, thus denying the request to reopen the claim of service connection for a psychiatric disorder.

The Board has granted service connection for schizophrenia, finding that the evidence shows it is related to the veteran's alcohol and drug abuse during service.

The VA denied the veteran's claims for increased evaluations of PTSD and service connection for his schizophrenia, finding that the conditions are not related to his military service.

The veteran's claim for nonservice-connected pension benefits was granted effective from September 2, 1997. The effective date is not earlier than the date of receipt of his reopened claim on March 31, 1994.

The Board has determined that new and material evidence has been submitted to reopen the veteran's claim for service connection of his psychiatric disability, which was previously denied in January 1991. The case is now reopened.

The veteran's claim for an effective date prior to June 2, 1987, for the award of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (including paranoid schizophrenia and PTSD) was denied.

The Board has reopened the veteran's claims for service connection for a hearing loss with otitis media and an acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as a nervous disorder), finding that new and material evidence has been submitted. The claim of entitlement to service connection for tinnitus remains denied.

The veteran's PTSD was granted service connection, and he is assigned a 100% rating for schizophrenia. The issue of TDIU is moot as the veteran already has a compensable rating for his hearing loss.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for compensation benefits under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1151, on an accrued basis, due to a psychiatric disorder claimed as the result of treatment by VA in June 1997, finding no evidence of fault on the part of VA.

The veteran's appeal has been withdrawn by his attorney, and the Board finds that there are no allegations of errors of fact or law for appellate consideration.