The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including psychotic disorder NOS and paranoid schizophrenia, is being remanded due to the need for further development of his whereabouts and medical records. The Board will attempt to locate him and obtain necessary treatment records before determining if he has a current psychiatric disorder related to service.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's whereabouts are unknown, preventing VA from obtaining all relevant medical records and conducting an examination as requested in the prior remand.
- Claimed conditions
- psychotic disorder not otherwise specified (NOS), paranoid schizophrenia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 3, 2017
- Citation
- 1714591
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 1714591.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal has been dismissed as the appellant, through his representative, withdrew the appeal prior to a decision being made.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of paranoid schizophrenia is denied. The Board has also remanded the case to obtain a VA examination regarding his current disability rating for paranoid schizophrenia.
- Denied
The Veteran's sole service-connected condition, paranoid schizophrenia, is rated at 100% disabling. The Board denied Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) based on housebound due to the lack of additional service-connected disabilities independently ratable at 60%, and because the Veteran's substantial confinement was not solely attributable to his service-connected disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the Veteran's claim for service connection for a psychiatric disorder, to include paranoid schizophrenia and PTSD, must be remanded due to a duty to assist error. The Veteran will need to provide additional information about his in-service stressor and VA records related to Social Security disability benefits.
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