Citation Nr: 18145424
Decision Date: 10/29/18	Archive Date: 10/29/18

DOCKET NO. 16-31 844
DATE:	October 29, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to a rating in excess of 70 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is remanded.
Entitlement to total disability based on individual unemployability is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served in the U.S. Army from February 1967 to December 1969, and from October 1974 to September 1977.  His awards include the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Vietnam Service Medal with Bronze Service Star.
These matters come before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2013 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Petersburg, Florida.  
The December 2013 rating decision continued a 70 percent rating for PTSD.  The Veteran’s representative has argued for entitlement to a 100 percent rating for PTSD, or, in the alternative, entitlement to TDIU. 

Entitlement to a rating in excess of 70 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and entitlement to TDIU are remanded.
Unfortunately, these claims must be remanded to obtain additional treatment records and for the RO to issue a Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC) which addresses the additional VA medical evidence added to the claims file.
The Statement of the Case (SOC) for the Veteran’s claim of entitlement to an increased rating for PTSD was issued in May 2016.  Since May 2016, additional VA treatment records from 2015 to 2016 were added to the claims file.  The Veteran was also afforded a VA PTSD examination in June 2018.  The RO has not issued a SSOC to address this additional evidence prior to the Board’s review.
The available VA treatment records in the claims file end in June 2016.  The records indicated that the Veteran was receiving therapy through a Vet Center.  The Vet Center therapy records are not contained in the record.  On remand, ongoing VA treatment records and any Vet Center therapy records from 2012 to the present should be added to the claims file.  The RO should then issue a SSOC which addresses the 2018 VA examination and all pertinent VA treatment records.
The Veteran’s claim of entitlement to TDIU is inextricably intertwined with his increased rating claim as a 100 percent rating assignment for PTSD would change the TDIU review to one related to Special Monthly Compensation.  See Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180, 183 (1991) (two issues are “inextricably intertwined” when they are so closely tied together that a final Board decision on one issue cannot be rendered until the other issue has been considered).  
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
1. Ask the Veteran to complete a VA Form 21-4142 for the Vet Center(s) where he has received treatment.  After authorization is received, obtain any treatment records for the period from December 2012 to the present.  Document all requests for information as well as all responses in the claims file.
2. Obtain the Veteran’s VA treatment records for the period from June 2016 to the present.  All records/responses received must be associated with the electronic claims file.  
3. After completing the development requested above, readjudicate the Veteran’s claims.  If any of the benefits sought are not granted in full, the Veteran and his representative should be furnished a Supplemental Statement of the Case and given the opportunity to respond thereto.  The SSOC must include review of the June 2018 VA examination and all VA treatment records since the May 2016 SOC.  The case should then be returned to the Board, if otherwise in order.
 
KRISTI L. GUNN
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M.H. Stubbs, Counsel