Citation Nr: 0811466 Decision Date: 04/07/08 Archive Date: 04/23/08 DOCKET NO. 02-08 623 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Waco, Texas THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for claustrophobia. REPRESENTATION Veteran represented by: Texas Veterans Commission WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL Veteran ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. Horrigan INTRODUCTION The veteran, who is the appellant, served on active duty from August 1970 to February 1972 and from October to December 1973. This matter is before the Board of Veterans Appeals (Board) on appeal of a rating decision in June 2001 of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In November 2002, the veteran appeared at a hearing before a Decision Review Officer at the RO. A transcript of the hearing is in the claims folder. In November 2004 and September 2006, the Board remanded the case for further procedural and evidentiary development. As the requested development has been completed, no further action is necessary to comply with the Board's remand directives. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). In a decision in April 2007, the Board reopened the claim of service connection for claustrophobia and remanded the case for further procedural and evidentiary development. As the requested development has been completed, no further action is necessary to comply with the Board's remand directives. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). FINDING OF FACT The currently diagnosed claustrophobia had onset during service. CONCLUSION OF LAW Claustrophobia was incurred in service. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 5107(b) (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (2007). The Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 (VCAA) The VCAA, codified in part at 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5103, 5103A, and implemented in part at 38 C.F.R § 3.159, amended VA's duties to notify and to assist a claimant in developing information and evidence necessary to substantiate the claim. Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 5103(a), VA must notify the claimant of the information and evidence not of record that is necessary to substantiate the claim, which information and evidence VA will obtain, and which information and evidence the claimant is expected to provide. Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.159, VA must request that the claimant provide any evidence in the claimant's possession that pertains to the claim. The VCAA notice requirements apply to all five elements of a service connection claim. The five elements are: 1) veteran status; 2) existence of a disability; (3) a connection between the veteran's service and the disability; 4) degree of disability; and 5) effective date of the disability. Dingess v. Nicholson .0, 19 Vet. App. 473 (2006). The VCAA notice must be provided to a claimant before the initial unfavorable adjudication by the RO. Pelegrini v. Principi, 18 Vet. App. 112 (2004). In light of the favorable disposition, that is, the grant of service connection for claustrophobia, further discussion here of compliance with the VCAA to include the duty to assist is not necessary. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION Factual Basis The service medical records showed that in November 1973 the veteran complained that he was unable to tolerate the enclosed spaces aboard ship. A long history of phobic reaction to enclosed spaces was noted. The diagnosis was claustrophobia. After service on VA psychiatric evaluation in February 1976, history included the diagnosis of claustrophobia during service, which the veteran denied that he had currently. The assessment was no anxiety, depression, thought disorder, or psychiatric disease. VA records from 1998 to 2006 disclose that in April 2001 history included symptoms of claustrophobia. In September 2001, the veteran stated that he experiencing an intense anxiety reaction when exposed to enclosed spaces. In April 2003, the diagnosis was specific phobia, situational type (claustrophobia). On VA psychiatric examination in May 2007, the examiner stated that the veteran's claims file was reviewed and the veteran was interviewed. The examiner noted that the veteran had a difficult and traumatic childhood and that claustrophobia had been diagnosed by VA in 2003 and in 2007. The examiner also noted that the veteran gave a history of claustrophobia beginning in Army basic training, when he found that he had difficulties with enclosed spaces, which later intensified when he was in the Navy aboard ship where his quarters were confined and in the interior of the ship, resulting in his medical discharge due claustrophobia. The diagnosis was claustrophobia. The examiner expressed the opinion that it was as likely as not that the veteran's claustrophobia began in service, that is, the weight of the evidence both for and against the conclusion was approximately evenly divided. Laws and Regulations Service connection will be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1110. Analysis The evidence shows that the veteran was found to suffer from claustrophobia while on active duty and claustrophobia is currently diagnosed. Moreover, on VA psychiatric examination in 2007, the examiner expressed the opinion that it was as likely as not that the veteran's claustrophobia began in service. As the examiner stated that the opinion was based on evidence both for and against the claim that was approximately evenly divided, the Board finds that under the benefit-of-the-doubt standard of proof, 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(b), the competent medical evidence establishes that the current diagnosis of claustrophobia is linked to claustrophobia that was documented during service, and all elements necessary to establish service connection have been met. ORDER Service connection for claustrophobia is granted. ____________________________________________ George E. Guido Jr. Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Department of Veterans Affairs