Acquired psychiatric disorder decisions — 2001

The Board has denied the appellant's claims for increased ratings and service connection for various conditions, including osteoarthritis of the lumbosacral spine with radiculopathy, depression, hepatitis B, appendectomy scar, skin rash, hemorrhoids, right wrist keloid, epididymitis, chronic prostatitis, impotency, colon disorder, anemia, and sinusitis. The claims are denied.

The Board found that the veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder preexisted service, but a subsequent statement from JLE corrected this finding. The Board should have considered this new information and granted service connection.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for a psychiatric disability, including memory loss; left ankle disability; and headaches. The claim for increased rating for right ankle disability was also denied.

The veteran's appeal for an increased disability rating for schizophrenia was granted, with a current evaluation of 50 percent. The case is being remanded to the RO for further development and consideration.

The Board has remanded the case for further development and consideration, including obtaining additional medical opinions and evidence.

The Board has determined that the veteran's vocational goal of becoming a gunsmith is reasonably feasible for purposes of entitlement to vocational rehabilitation and training under Chapter 31, Title 38, United States Code.

The Board has determined that new and material evidence has been submitted to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for a neuropsychiatric disorder. The veteran's request to reopen this claim has been pending since July 1998.

The Board has reopened the claim for service connection due to new and material evidence, but it is not in order as there is no competent medical evidence linking the veteran's current psychiatric disorders to his military service.

The veteran's lumbar spine disability, organic mental disorder, left seventh cranial nerve disability, loss of sense of smell, and head, neck and facial scars are all currently rated at their maximum levels. The cervical spine disability with limitation of motion is granted a 20% rating.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including hypertension, psychiatric disorders other than PTSD, bilateral knee and ankle disabilities, right ear disability, bilateral hip and shoulder disabilities. The evidence did not establish a link between these conditions and service.

The Board has reopened the claim and determined that new evidence supports a finding of service connection for organic mood disorder with psychotic features, as it is at least as likely as not related to head trauma sustained during service.

The veteran's claims for service connection were denied as there was no evidence of a current disability or a relationship to military service. The Board found that the veteran did not engage in combat with the enemy and his allegations of exposure to mustard gas and Agent Orange during service are unsupported.

The Board denied the reopening of a claim for service connection due to lack of new and material evidence, concluding that the veteran's current psychiatric disability is not related to his active duty service.

The Board has determined that an effective date earlier than April 12, 1996 for the award of service connection for schizophrenia is not warranted.

The veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of chronic paranoid schizophrenia was denied as there is no evidence that a notice of disagreement was filed within one year of the September 1982 rating decision denying his original claim.

The Board has denied the veteran's claims for an increased rating for his service-connected prostatitis and denied entitlement to SMC based on loss of use of a creative organ. The issue of secondary service connection for impotence related to his service-connected prostatitis is not addressed in this decision.

The Board denied the veteran's claims of entitlement to an increased rating for schizophrenia with major depression and entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability in September 1988. The moving party does not have standing to assert a claim of CUE in this decision.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for schizophrenia, finding that his condition existed prior to his first period of service and did not increase in severity during either his first or second periods of service.

The Board has determined that the veteran's claim for service connection for a psychiatric disability is granted.

The Board denied the claim for service connection for a psychiatric disorder to include schizophrenia, finding that there was no evidence of such disorder during active duty and that any current condition is not causally related to military service.