PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) decisions — 2024

The Board has remanded the appellant's claims for hypertension, PTSD, diabetes mellitus, type II, heart disability, and arteriosclerosis obliterans due to unavailability of service treatment records and personnel records. The VA is required to schedule the appellant for appropriate examinations to determine the probable nature, date(s) of initial onset, and etiology/etiologies of his claimed disabilities.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for PTSD and Adjustment Disorder with Anxiety, finding no current diagnosis of PTSD and insufficient evidence linking her symptoms to military service.

The Veteran's PTSD is rated at 70 percent, and the Board has granted a TDIU due to service-connected disabilities.

The Veteran's PTSD increased in severity prior to the date assigned for his 70 percent rating, and he is granted an effective date of September 27, 2020, but no earlier.

The Veteran's service-connected PTSD has rendered him unable to maintain substantially gainful employment due to occupational and social impairment.

The Veteran was granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) from October 6, 2011 to September 23, 2013. Prior to this date, the criteria for TDIU were not met due to his service-connected disabilities.

The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings for PTSD, shell fragment wound of the left forearm, and coronary artery disease, as well as his claim for TDIU due to failure to provide adequate reasons or bases in its July 2022 decision. The issues have been remanded for further development including obtaining private treatment records from UVA Stuarts Draft Family Practice and employment records from the Virginia Department of Corrections.

The Board has remanded the case due to failure to comply with previous directives and needs further examination for service connection of an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, depression, and insomnia.

The Veteran's service-connected PTSD is rated at 100 percent, granting a total disability rating. The issue of entitlement to Total Disability Rating Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) is dismissed as the claim for increase in PTSD has been granted.

The Board denied the Veteran's TDIU claim as there was no evidence showing he could not secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due to his service-connected disabilities, and he had been employed full-time for 20 years.

The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date than July 2, 2021, for a 70 percent rating for PTSD. The evidence did not support a finding of an increase in severity prior to that date.

The Veteran's hypertension is rated at 10 percent, which does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.,PTSD is currently rated at 70 percent. The Board finds that the symptoms do not warrant a higher rating as they do not meet the criteria for total occupational and social impairment.

The Veteran's GERD is related to his service-connected disabilities of PTSD, bilateral hand strains, and right ankle ligament strain. The Board granted service connection for GERD as secondary to these conditions.

The Veteran's TBI and migraines are rated as 30 percent, but his PTSD is rated at 50 percent from October 27, 2021 to July 28, 2022. The Veteran's PTSD rating remains denied.

The Veteran's appeal for higher ratings for PTSD, hypertension, prostate cancer residuals, and a surgical scar status post-prostatectomy was denied. The initial rating for PTSD remains at 50 percent.

The Board denied the Veteran's request for an earlier effective date for his total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) prior to August 20, 2021. The TDIU was granted as of August 20, 2021, and the Board found that the Veteran had been unable to secure and maintain gainful employment due to his service-connected disabilities since November 2020.

The Veteran's PTSD is rated at a 70 percent disability rating prior to June 29, 2022, due to occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD with unspecified depressive disorder and anxiety disorder, was denied. The Board found that the effective date of October 11, 2021 is correct as it is the date of receipt of the application to reopen the previously disallowed claim.

The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for anxiety, finding that it is subsumed under her already granted service-connected PTSD with depression. The decision notes that granting separate service connection would result in impermissible pyramiding.

The Veteran's service connection claim for bilateral pes planus is granted. The claims for diabetes mellitus type II, an acquired psychiatric disorder (claimed as PTSD), fibromyalgia, and erectile dysfunction are denied.