The Board has remanded the Veteran's appeal for further development and an opinion regarding his claimed psychiatric disabilities, including PTSD and schizophrenia. The AOJ must obtain private medical records from Hampton Court Nursing Home in Miami, Florida, and request a VA clinician to determine the nature, date of initial onset, and etiology of any acquired psychiatric disability present during the appeal period.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the current VA opinion was inadequate for readjudicating the Veteran's appeal due to the lack of in-service psychiatric symptoms or diagnoses. The AOJ must obtain private medical records from Hampton Court Nursing Home and request a VA clinician to provide an adequate opinion on the nature, date of initial onset, and etiology of any acquired psychiatric disability.
- Claimed conditions
- schizophrenia, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20068183
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.
- Partly granted
The Veteran was granted a 70 percent initial disability rating for PTSD effective December 2, 2021, but the claim for an increased rating in excess of 70 percent was denied. The appeal also included claims for service connection and ratings for various conditions, some of which were granted while others were remanded.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of October 17, 2022, for the grant of service connection for PTSD.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for headaches and increased ratings for left shoulder rotator cuff tear, right shoulder rotator cuff tear, hypertension, and left and right leg restless leg syndrome. The Board denied a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss and an initial rating in excess of 70 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeal for an increased rating of his service-connected PTSD during a Board hearing, and the appeal is therefore dismissed.
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