Citation Nr: 0811758 Decision Date: 04/09/08 Archive Date: 04/23/08 DOCKET NO. 04-37 132 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. M. Wagman, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran had active military service from September 1961 to September 1964 and from November 1964 to November 1968. This case was last before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) in May 2007 when it was remanded for further development including a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mental health examination. It was on appeal from an August 2003 rating decision by the St. Petersburg, Florida Regional Office (RO) of VA that denied the veteran's claim for entitlement to service connection for PTSD. FINDING OF FACT The record contains medical evidence showing that the veteran has PTSD due to a verified in-service stressor. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria to establish service connection for PTSD have been not met. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 5107 (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.304(f), 4.125 (2007). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION In this case, the Board grants service connection for PTSD, which represents a complete grant of the benefit sought on appeal. As such, no discussion of VA's duties to notify and assist is necessary. Service connection may be granted if the evidence shows that a disability was incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1110 (2002). A determination of service connection requires a finding of the existence of a current disability and a determination of a relationship between that disability and injury or disease incurred in service. Watson v. Brown, 4 Vet. App. 309, 314 (1993). To establish service connection, there must be: (1) a medical diagnosis of a current disability; (2) medical, or in certain circumstances, lay evidence of in-service occurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) medical evidence of a nexus between an in-service injury or disease and the current disability. Pond v. West, 12 Vet. App. 341, 346 (1999). Service connection for PTSD requires medical evidence diagnosing the condition in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 4.125(a), a link, established by medical evidence, between the veteran's current symptoms and an in-service stressor; and credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor occurred. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f) and 38 C.F.R. § 4.125 (2007) (requiring PTSD diagnoses to conform to the criteria in the DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS (4th ed. 1994) (DSM- IV)). If the evidence establishes that the veteran engaged in combat with the enemy and the claimed stressor is related to that combat, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, and provided that the claimed stressor is consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of the veteran's service, the veteran's lay testimony alone may establish the occurrence of the claimed in-service stressor. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f)(1) (2007). If there is no combat experience, or if there is a determination that the veteran engaged in combat but the claimed stressor is not related to such combat, there must be independent evidence to corroborate the veteran's statements as to the occurrence of the claimed stressor. Doran v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 283, 288-89 (1994). The veteran's testimony, by itself, cannot, as a matter of law, establish the occurrence of a non-combat stressor. Dizoglio v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 163, 166 (1996). Moreover, a medical opinion diagnosing PTSD does not suffice to verify the occurrence of the claimed in-service stressor. Cohen v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 128, 142 (1997); Moreau v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 389, 396 (1996). Here, there is no contention that the veteran served in combat. He has been diagnosed as having PTSD. As the Board noted in the May 2007 remand, although the veteran had identified several stressors, only was has been corroborated, i.e, the death of his friend and mentor, [redacted], who was killed in a plane crash in June 1966. The plane that Mr. [redacted] was on took off from the U.S.S. Enterprise, where, according to service personnel records, the veteran was serving on active duty. There are independent sources in the claims folder that confirm that Mr. [redacted] died in June 1966 in a plane crash while stationed aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Thus, in remanding this matter, the Board instructed the RO to afford the veteran a VA psychiatric examination. In doing so, the Board indicated that the examiner needed to rule in or exclude a diagnosis of PTSD, and that if the examiner diagnosed him as having PTSD, the examiner needed to state whether the in-service stressor involving the death of the veteran's friend and mentor, [redacted] [redacted], was sufficient to produce PTSD as the Board explained that that was the only verified event that could be considered as a stressor. Pursuant to the Board's remand instructions, in July 2007, the veteran was afforded a comprehensive VA psychiatric examination. The examiner noted that he had reviewed the claims folder and, based on his interview of the veteran and review of his records, diagnosed the veteran as having PTSD due to the verified in-service stressor. In doing so, the examiner offered a lengthy and cogent explanation for the diagnosis. In light of the foregoing, and resolving all reasonable doubt in his favor, the Board finds that service connection for PTSD is warranted. ORDER Service connection for PTSD is granted. ____________________________________________ STEVEN D. REISS Acting Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Department of Veterans Affairs