Citation Nr: 1324126 Decision Date: 07/29/13 Archive Date: 08/07/13 DOCKET NO. 05-22 865 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Paul, Minnesota THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for a psychiatric disorder, including bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to include as secondary to a military sexual trauma (MST). REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: The American Legion ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD H. Bunker, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The Veteran served on active duty from August 1980 to May 1981. This case comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2005 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Paul, Minnesota. This case was previously brought before the Board in August 2009 and March 2013 at which time the claim was remanded to the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) to further assist the Veteran with the development of his appeal. The case is once again before the Board. The appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management Center (AMC), in Washington, DC. VA will notify the appellant if further action is required. REMAND The Veteran is partially claiming a psychiatric disorder based on an in-service sexual assault by members of his platoon. The Veteran has not been provided sufficient notice regarding types of evidence that might help verify his claimed physical assault stressor. In light of this notification error, this appeal must be remanded to provide such notice to the Veteran. The Veteran has also referenced a meeting with his Sergeant Major which prompted a physical assault and then a sexual assault by other members of his platoon. See May 2013 statement. Accordingly, the Veteran's personnel records should be obtained. The RO should also take this opportunity to obtain recent VA outpatient treatment records from the VA Medical Center (VAMC) in St. Cloud. Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Provide the Veteran VCAA notice which details the potential sources of evidence that might help to verify his claimed MST stressor. The Veteran should also be informed that he should provide as much information as possible, including dates and places of events. 2. Obtain the Veteran's recent VA outpatient treatment records from the VAMC in St. Cloud, Minnesota, to specifically include records from the Men's Sexual Trauma Group. Follow-up requests should be made if necessary and the VAMC must provide a negative response if records are not available. 3. Request from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, or other appropriate source, the Veteran's entire Official Military Personnel File, including basic and extended service personnel records, administrative remarks, evaluations, and orders. Efforts to obtain the foregoing records must continue until it is determined that they do not exist or that further attempts to obtain them would be futile. The non-existence or unavailability of such records must be verified by each Federal department or agency from whom they are sought and this should be documented for the record. 38 U.S.C.A. § 5103A(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)(2). 4. After completing the above, request that the July 2010 VA examiner offer an addendum opinion regarding the Veteran's claimed psychiatric disorder. a. The entire claims file (i.e. the paper claims file and any medical records contained in Virtual VA, CAPRI, and AMIE), to include this Remand must be reviewed by the examiner in conjunction with the examination. If the examiner does not have access to Virtual VA, any relevant treatment records contained in the Virtual VA file that are not available on CAPRI or AMIE must be printed and associated with the paper claims file so they can be available to the examiner for review. The examiner should indicate on the examination report that (s)he has reviewed the folder in conjunction with the examination. b. The examination report must reflect review of pertinent material in the claims folder. After reviewing the claims file, the examiner must state whether the Veteran's claimed stressors, to include being the victim of a military sexual trauma, are sufficient to render a diagnosis for a psychiatric disorder, to include bipolar disorder and PTSD. The examiner's attention is called to the following: i. A May 2013 statement by the Veteran alleging involvement a military sexual trauma occurred after speaking with his Sergeant Major. ii. A June 2013 private evaluation diagnosing the Veteran with anxiety disorder NOS with symptoms of PTSD and bipolar II disorder. c. In all conclusions, the examiner must identify and explain the medical basis or bases, with identification of pertinent evidence of record. If the examiner is unable to render an opinion without resort to speculation, he or she must explain why and so state. Any necessary tests or studies must be conducted and all clinical findings should be reported in detail and correlated to a specific diagnosis. d. If further examination of the Veteran is necessary to provide the requested opinion, the Veteran should be scheduled for an additional examination. It is the Veteran's responsibility to report for any examination scheduled, and to cooperate in the development of the case; the consequences of failing to report for a VA examination without good cause may include denial of the claim. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.158, 3.655 (2012). 5. After the above has been completed, the RO must review the claims file and ensure that all of the foregoing development actions have been conducted and completed in full. If any development is incomplete, appropriate corrective action must be implemented. If any report does not include adequate responses to the specific opinions requested, it must be returned to the providing examiner for corrective action. 6. After completing the above, and any other development deemed necessary, the RO should readjudicate the Veteran's claim. If the benefit sought on appeal is not granted, the Veteran and his representative should be furnished with a supplemental statement of the case and afforded a reasonable opportunity to respond before the record is returned to the Board for further review. 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 action must be handled in an expeditious manner. See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112 (West Supp. 2012). _________________________________________________ J. CONNOLLY Acting Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 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) (2012).