Citation Nr: 18147536 Decision Date: 11/06/18 Archive Date: 11/05/18 DOCKET NO. 13-12 525 DATE: November 6, 2018 ORDER An increased rating of 100 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is granted, subject to the laws and regulations governing the award of monetary benefits. Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) for statutory housebound status is granted, subject to the laws and regulations governing the award of monetary benefits. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) finds that the evidence is evenly balanced (in “relative equipoise”) for and against a finding that the Veteran is totally occupationally and socially impaired due to service-connected PTSD. This evidence includes a September 2017 letter from the Veteran’s longterm psychiatrist concluding that the severity of the Veteran’s PTSD symptoms, including panic, flashbacks, hypervigilance, impaired memory, depression, and anhedonia, render the Veteran unable to sustain social or work relationships. The Board assigns significant probative weight to the psychiatrist’s conclusion that the Veteran is totally disabled and unemployable due to PTSD because of the longterm therapeutic relationship and because the conclusion is supported by a detailed explanation (rationale). The VA examination reports also reflect serious and worsening PTSD symptoms, including suicidal ideation, memory impairment, depressed mood, poor sleep, irritability, avoidance, and flashbacks. Difficulty maintaining effective work and social relationships is evidenced by the examiners’ notations that the Veteran’s marriage is deteriorating, he has no casual friends, and that he retired in July 2010, in part due to mental health issues including poor concentration and irritability. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the lay and medical evidence of record establishes that the Veteran has been totally occupationally and socially impaired during the entire appeal period. 2. During the entire appeal period, the Veteran has had a single service-connected disability rated at 100 percent disabling (PTSD). He also has additional service-connected disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct from the 100 percent service-connected disability and involving different bodily systems. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria have been met for an initial increased disability rating of 100 percent for PTSD. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5103, 5103A, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 4.3, 4.7, 4.126, 4.130, Diagnostic Code 9411. 2. The criteria for SMC based on statutory housebound status have been met during the entire appeal period. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1114, 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(i). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from July 1956 to March 1978. These matters are before the Board on appeal from a July 2011 rating decision. Procedural History In December 2015, the Board denied an initial increased rating higher than 70 percent for PTSD and declined to remand the matter for extraschedular consideration. The Veteran appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In a February 2018 panel decision, the Court vacated the Board’s denial of an increased rating higher than 70 percent for PTSD and held that the Board errs in using Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores to assign a psychiatric rating in a case where the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (2013) (DSM-5) applied, given that VA had formally adopted the DSM-5 and that the DSM-5 had abandoned the GAF scale. Golden v. Shulkin, 29 Vet. App. 221 (2018). The Court did not reach the issue of entitlement to an extraschedular rating. See id. Notably this panel decision superseded the Court’s July 2017 non-precedential, single Judge decision, which had affirmed the Board’s denial of an increased schedular rating. See Golden v. Shulkin, 2017 U.S. Vet. Claims LEXIS 1018 (U.S. Vet. App. July 18, 2017) ((withdrawing Golden v. Shulkin, 2017 U.S. App. Vet. Claims LEXIS 85 (U.S. Vet. App., Apr. 19, 2017) (withdrawing Golden v. Snyder, 2017 U.S. App. Vet. Claims LEXIS 519 (U.S. Vet. App., Jan. 30, 2017)). Other Issues Because the Board is granting an increased rating of 100 percent for PTSD, the Veteran is now receiving a total disability rating and separate ratings totaling 60 percent. Accordingly, SMC based on statutory housebound criteria is raised by the record, and is currently before the Board as part and parcel of the increased rating claim on appeal. See 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s); 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(i); Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 251 (2011); Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280, 293 (2008). TDIU is also considered part and parcel of increased rating claims, pursuant to Rice v. Shinseki, 22 Vet. App. 447, 453 (2009), and the Board remanded this issue in December 2015. However, because the Veteran is receiving the highest possible award (a 100 percent rating and statutory SMC) during the entire appeal period, the claim for TDIU is moot and will not be addressed further here. Cf. Bradley, supra (holding that a 100 percent evaluation does not render a TDIU claim moot where there is a possibility that TDIU will impact entitlement to SMC based on receipt of service connection for a disability with a 100 percent rating and another with a separate 60 percent rating). Similarly, the issue of entitlement to an extraschedular rating for PTSD is moot because the Veteran has been awarded a 100 percent rating during the entire appeal period. 1. Increased rating for PTSD For the reasons outlined above, an increased rating of 100 percent for PTSD is warranted. 2. SMC based on statutory housebound status For the reasons outlined above, SMC based on statutory housebound status is warranted. VICTORIA MOSHIASHWILI Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD N. Robinson, Associate Counsel