Acquired psychiatric disorder decisions — 2018

The Board has remanded the issue of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, due to insufficient compliance with previous directives. The Veteran's active duty and National Guard service are noted. Further development is needed by obtaining information about a casualty from December 1971.

The Board has determined that the Veteran's claims for service connection are not supported by the evidence and have been remanded to obtain additional medical opinions and development.

The Board has decided to remand the case for additional development, including searching for missing service treatment records and obtaining relevant medical records from non-federal agencies. The Veteran's claim will be reconsidered based on the new evidence.

The Board has remanded the cases for additional development to obtain medical opinions regarding the etiology of the Veteran's lumbar strain, heart disability, and acquired psychiatric condition. The cases will be readjudicated after this development.

The Board is remanding the case to determine if new and material evidence has been received to reopen a claim of entitlement to service connection for a low back disability. The other issues are not addressed due to an unresolved issue regarding whether the Veteran filed a timely Form 9.

The Veteran's petition to reopen his claim of service connection for an acquired psychiatric condition, including paranoid schizophrenia, neurosis, and depression, was denied. The evidence submitted did not show that a mental disorder began in service or is otherwise related to service.

The Veteran's claims are being remanded due to her failure to attend the previously scheduled VA examinations. The Board will attempt to reschedule the examinations and review the service connection claims.

The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, obstructive sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and an acquired psychiatric disorder other than PTSD due to conflicting evidence in the file. Additional medical examinations are required.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for schizophrenia was reopened due to the submission of new and material evidence. The Board has also remanded the case for further development, including obtaining Social Security Administration records.

The Veteran's schizophrenia was present prior to service and did not worsen during service. The Board denied the claim for service connection.

The Board has remanded the claims for hypertension and an acquired psychiatric disability due to insufficient opinions regarding their relationship with service-connected conditions, specifically hearing loss, tinnitus, or Meniere's disease. Additional medical opinions are needed.

The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, hypertension, and erectile dysfunction are all granted as service connected. The Board found that the evidence was at least in equipoise for these conditions being related to his military service.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD as secondary to a military sexual trauma is being remanded due to the need for further examination and consideration of evidence.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for PTSD as secondary to a military sexual trauma is being remanded due to the need for further examination and consideration of evidence.

The Board has determined that the severance of service connection for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy was improper, and service connection must be reinstated. Additionally, several other issues have been remanded for further development.

The Board denied service connection for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) secondary to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)/Mental Disorders because there was no clinical diagnosis of TBI in the record, and the Veteran's lay statements were insufficient to substantiate her claim.

The Veteran's cause of death, adenocarcinoma of the lung, was not caused or contributed to by a service-connected disability. The Veteran had been rated at 100% for schizophrenia since March 2006, but this rating did not meet the requirement of being continuously rated as totally disabled for 10 years immediately preceding death.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for schizophrenia is denied, but his claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder other than schizophrenia and PTSD (to include bipolar disorder) is granted. The bipolar disorder was found to be aggravated by the service-connected PTSD.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for a cervical spine disability has been reopened and granted. The claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (to possibly include PTSD, depression, anxiety) remains denied.

The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, diagnosed as chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The claim was reopened due to new evidence received since the previous denial in September 1972. Service connection is established based on continuity of symptomatology during active service.