Citation Nr: 18145619 Decision Date: 10/29/18 Archive Date: 10/29/18 DOCKET NO. 16-23 969 DATE: October 29, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disability (TDIU) is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s service-connected disabilities, specifically his lower extremities, heart, and lumbar spine disability, preclude the physical acts required for substantially gainful employment. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for TDIU are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1155, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 4.1, 4.3, 4.7, 4.16, 4.18, 4.19 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from August 1967 to May 1969. This matter is on appeal from a January 2015 rating decision. Evidence of record indicates that the Veteran is a Purple Heart award recipient. TDIU TDIU is granted where service-connected disabilities are so severe that the Veteran is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation. 38 U.S.C. § 1155; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16. The central inquiry is whether service-connected disabilities alone are of sufficient severity to produce unemployability. Hatlestad v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 524 (1993). Consideration is given to the Veteran’s level of education, special training, and previous work experience. Van Hoose v. Brown, 4 Vet. App. 361 (1993); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.341, 4.16, 4.19. The Veteran meets the schedular criteria for TDIU pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (a). He has service connected disability that meets the numeric standard and sufficient physical and mental limitations to preclude substantially gainful employment. The Veteran is in receipt of service-connected benefits for the following disabilities: 40 percent for a right lower extremities disability, 30 percent for both coronary artery disease and PTSD, 20 percent for a low back disability associated with his right lower extremity disability, 10 percent for each, a left foot injury, an upper right thigh disability, and tinnitus, and noncompensable ratings for a buttocks disability, bilateral hearing loss, and a right foot scar. His combined disability rating is 80 percent. The record reflects that the Veteran is a high school graduate with an associate degree in automotive mechanics. The record also shows that in the past he has worked as a truck driver and as a janitor. He reported and the evidence shows that he last worked in May 2014 as a courier. His resignation letter from his job as a courier indicates that he resigned due to his physical service connected disability including, right lower extremity and back pain as well as heart problems. In 2014, a VA rehabilitation counselor found that the Veteran was unable to work due to service connected disability. See Other received May 2014. Specifically, the counselor notes that the Veteran cannot walk, sit, or stand for long periods of time, that he does not tolerate stress well; and his well-being is put in dire jeopardy due   to stress as a result of his heart condition. Id at 24. The counselor also noted that the Veteran could not lift, carry, push, pull nor bend, crouch, crawl, or stoop due to his service-connected back, leg, and foot impairments. He also reported that the Veteran was chronically fatigued and had trouble staying awake while working. March and December 2014 ischemic heart VA examinations show that the Veteran is unable to lift and carry more that 10 to 20 pounds or walk up a flight of stairs without experiencing shortness of breath and chest pain symptoms. The examinations also show that the Veteran was unable to complete tasks required for employment as a newspaper courier because he experiences shortness of breath while loading and unloading his truck. A December 2014 VA Foot examiner noted that the Veteran had constant pain in his right foot. He also noted that the Veteran was unable to complete the tasks required for his employment as a newspaper courier as he was unable to climb in and out the delivery truck, had decreased stability and mobility, could not drive using his right foot, was unable to walk more than 500 feet at a time, and could not stand longer than 5 minutes. The examiner also stated that the Veteran’s foot condition would also cause some minimal difficulty in completing sedentary work. A May 2017 Residual Functional Capacity Evaluation completed by the Veteran’s nurse practitioner concluded that he was unable to maintain substantially gainful employment as a result of the combined effects of his service connected disabilities. See Correspondence received November 2017 at 39. Also, in October 2017, a vocational expert found that the Veteran’s service connected disabilities precluded him from substantially gainful employment. Based on the foregoing, the Board finds that TDIU is warranted as the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities preclude him from performing the physical and   mental acts required for substantially gainful employment, inclusive of sedentary employment as the record shows that he cannot sit nor stand or long periods of time. MARJORIE A. AUER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD T. Davis, Associate Counsel