Citation Nr: 1303572
Decision Date: 02/01/13	Archive Date: 04/10/13

DOCKET NO. 12-28 729	)       DATE FEB 01 2013

On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Waco, Texas

THE ISSUES

1. Entitlement to an initial disability rating in excess of 50 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

2. Entitlement to a total rating based on unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU).

REPRESENTATION 

Appellant represented by:  J. Michael Woods, Attorney

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Robert E. O'Brien, Counsel

INTRODUCTION

The Veteran had active service from January 1968 to January 1971. This included service in Vietnam from August 1968 to August 1969.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2011 rating decision from the VARO in Waco, Texas, that granted service connection for PTSD and assigned a 50 percent disability rating, effective October 15, 2010.

The Board notes that in addition to PTSD, service connection is in effect for ischemic heart disease, rated as 10 percent disabling. A combined disability rating of 60 percent has been in effect since October 2010.

The appeal is REMANDED to the RO for further development as indicated below.

REMAND

In Rice v. Shinseki, 22 Vet. App. 447 (2009), the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) held that a claim for TDIU is part and parcel of an increased rating claim when the issue of unemployability is reasonably raised by the record. In this case, the Veteran actually submitted an application for increased compensation based on unemployability that was received in December 2011. By letter dated in March 2012, he was informed that the RO was working on a claim that included one for TDIU. In the March 2012 notice of disagreement, the Veteran's representative indicated that once service connection for PTSD was granted and "properly rated in excess of 50 percent," he [the Veteran] should be found unemployable." The Veteran has not been accorded a statement of the case with regard to this matter.

As for the increased rating claim, the Board notes the Virtual VA paperless claims processing system is being utilized in this case. Instead of paper, a highly secured electronic repository is used to store and review every document involved in the

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claims process. A review of the system in this case reveals the Veteran was hospitalized by VA for 3 days in June 2012 for unspecified purposes. Without reviewing the information pertaining to the hospitalization, the Board cannot make a determination on the issues at hand.

Accordingly, the claims are REMANDED for the following actions:

1. Obtain the records pertaining to the hospitalization of the Veteran by VA in June 2012 and associate them with the claims file.

2. VA should take appropriate action to develop and adjudicate the Veteran's claim for TDIU.

3.	Thereafter, VA should review any additional
evidence and readjudicate the claim. If any benefit
sought is not granted to the Veteran's satisfaction, he
and his representative should be given an opportunity to respond before the case is returned to the Board after compliance with the requisite
appellate procedures.

The appellant has the right to submit additional evidence and argument on the matter or matters the Board has remanded. Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999).

This claim must be afforded expeditious treatment. The law requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board of Veterans' Appeals or by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for additional development or other appropriate

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action must be handled in an expeditious manner. See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112 (West Supp. 2011).

KELLI KORDICH 
Acting Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals

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