Citation Nr: 18145833
Decision Date: 10/30/18	Archive Date: 10/30/18

DOCKET NO. 16-30 469
DATE:	October 30, 2018
ORDER
New and material evidence has been received to reopen a claim for service connection for a depressive disorder.
Service connection for unspecified depressive disorder is granted.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. An unappealed April 2005 rating decision denied service connection for a depressive disorder.
2. Evidence received since the April 2005 decision was not of record at that time; relates to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the underlying claim; and raises a reasonable possibility of substantiating that claim.
3. The evidence is at least in equipoise with regard to showing that the Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disorder, to include unspecified depressive disorder, is associated with his service. In August 2015, a psychologist diagnosed the Veteran with unspecified depressive disorder. The Veteran and his family members have contended that his psychiatric condition originated with his service, to include the process of his discharge from the Army and the circumstances surrounding it. On the one hand, for the purposes of the Veteran’s separation, in October 1990 an Army psychologist opined that he had no mental health problems requiring treatment or disposition through medical channels. However, in June 2016 the psychologist who diagnosed the Veteran’s unspecified depressive disorder opined that it more likely than not began in military service and continued uninterrupted to the present time. The psychologist’s opinion was supported by rationale, to include consideration of the Veteran’s medical and service history, his lay statements, and relevant medical literature. Accordingly, resolving all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, the evidence is at least in equipoise and service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include unspecified depressive disorder, is warranted.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The April 2005 rating decision denying service connection for a depressive disorder is final. 38 U.S.C. § 5108 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (2017).
2. New and material evidence has been received since the April 2005 decision; the claim for service connection is reopened. 38 U.S.C. § 5108 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (2017). 
3. The criteria for service connection for an unspecified depressive disorder have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303 (2017).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
The Veteran served on active duty from November 1989 to May 1991. He served under honorable conditions in the United States Army. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2014 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Louis, Missouri. 
Pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 5108 (2012) and 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (2017), and in light of the “low threshold” espoused in Shade v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 110, 117 (2010), the Board finds that the competent medical evidence received since the last final denial in April 2005 constitutes new and material evidence sufficient to reopen the Veteran’s claim. At that time, service connection was denied for lack of nexus evidence. Since then, however, in June 2016 a psychologist’s opinion was added to the claims file associating the Veteran’s currently diagnosed unspecified depressive disorder with his service. The Board finds that this positive nexus evidence was not of record at the time of the April 2005 decision; it relates to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the underlying claim; and it raises a reasonable possibility of substantiating that claim. Accordingly, the Board finds that new and material evidence has been received and the claim is reopened. Pursuant to the Board’s Findings of Fact above, the Veteran’s claim for service connection is granted.
 
M. C. GRAHAM
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	T. Fales, Associate Counsel