Citation Nr: 1007238 Decision Date: 02/26/10 Archive Date: 03/05/10 DOCKET NO. 08-34 818 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Nashville, Tennessee THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for a chronic acquired psychiatric disorder to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: American Red Cross ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. T. Hutcheson, Counsel INTRODUCTION The Veteran had active service from March 1968 to December 1971. This matter came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2008 rating decision of the Nashville, Tennessee, Regional Office (RO) which denied service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management Center (AMC), in Washington, DC. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will notify the Veteran if further action is required on his part. REMAND The Veteran advances that he incurred chronic PTSD secondary to his traumatic experiences while aboard the U.S.S. Fechteler and the U.S.S. Ramsey during the Vietnam War including an incident involving the accidental electrocution of a fellow shipmate while the sailor was attempting to repair the ship's sonar apparatus. A review of the 1970 command history for the U.S.S. Fechteler revealed that a sailor was accidently electrocuted while working on the ship's sonar equipment during the period the Veteran was serving aboard the vessel. An April 2007 written statement from E. D'A-L, R.N., M.S.N., F.N.P-C., conveys that the Veteran was diagnosed with "PTSD resulting from stressful experiences he endured while at sea during the Vietnam War." She indicated that the Veteran "should be evaluated for PTSD." The Veteran has not been afforded a VA examination for compensation purposes. The VA's duty to assist includes, in appropriate cases, the duty to conduct a thorough and contemporaneous medical examination which is accurate and fully descriptive. Floyd v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 88, 93 (1996); Ardison v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 405, 407-08 (1994); Green v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 121, 124 (1991). Accordingly, this case is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Contact the Veteran and request that he provide information as to all treatment of any psychiatric disability, including the names and addresses of all health care providers. Upon receipt of the requested information and the appropriate releases, contact E. D'A-L, R.N., M.S.N., F.N.P-C., and all other identified health care providers and request that they forward copies of all available clinical documentation pertaining to treatment of the Veteran, not already of record, for incorporation into the record. 2. Request that copies of all VA clinical documentation pertaining to the Veteran's treatment after January 2008, not already of record, be forwarded for incorporation into the record. 3. Then schedule the Veteran for a VA examination for compensation purposes to accurately determine the nature and etiology of any chronic acquired psychiatric disability. All indicated tests and studies should be accomplished and the findings then reported in detail. If a diagnosis of PTSD is advanced, the examiner should identify the specific stressor or stressors supporting such a diagnosis. The examiner should also advance an opinion as to whether it is more likely than not (i.e., probability greater than 50 percent); at least as likely as not (i.e., probability of 50 percent); or less likely than not (i.e., probability less than 50 percent) that any identified acquired psychiatric disorder had its onset during active service; is etiologically related to the Veteran's traumatic shipboard experiences including the 1970 accidental electrocution of a sailor aboard the U.S.S. Fechteler; or otherwise originated during active service. Send the claims folder to the examiner for review of pertinent documents therein. The examination report should specifically state that such a review was conducted. 4. Then readjudicate the Veteran's entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder to include PTSD. If the benefit sought on appeal remains denied, the Veteran and his accredited representative should be issued a supplemental statement of the case (SSOC) which addresses all relevant actions taken on the Veteran's claim for benefits, to include a summary of the evidence and applicable law and regulations considered, since the issuance of the last SSOC. The Veteran should be given the opportunity to respond to the SSOC. The Veteran is free to submit additional evidence and argument while the case is in remand status. See Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999). The Veteran's appeal must be afforded expeditious treatment by the RO. The law requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board or by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) for additional development or other appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner. See The Veterans' Benefits Improvements Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-446, § 302, 108 Stat. 4645, 4658 (1994), 38 U.S.C.A. § 5101 (West 2002) (Historical and Statutory Notes). In addition, VBA's Adjudication Procedure Manual, M21-1, Part IV, directs the ROs to provide expeditious handling of all cases that have been remanded by the Board and the Court. See M21-1, Part IV, paras. 8.44-8.45 and 38.02-38.03. _________________________________________________ Michael J. Skaltsounis Acting Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the Board is appealable to the Court. This remand is in the nature of a preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board on the merits of your appeal. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (2009).