Citation Nr: 18150274 Decision Date: 11/14/18 Archive Date: 11/14/18 DOCKET NO. 16-34 571 DATE: November 14, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a major depressive disorder is granted. Entitlement to service connection for a chronic headache disability, to include as secondary to a service-connected disability, is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, a major depressive disorder is related to his active service. 2. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, his headaches are caused by his now service-connected major depressive disorder. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for service connection for a major depressive disorder have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303 (2018). 2. The criteria for service connection for a chronic headache disability, to include as secondary to the service-connected major depressive disorder, have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.310 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from November 1978 to June 1979. This appeal comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from rating decisions of July 2014 and January 2015 by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Atlanta, Georgia. Service Connection In order to establish service connection, the facts, as shown by evidence, must demonstrate that a disease or injury resulting in current disability was incurred during service or, if pre-existing active service, was aggravated therein. 38 U.S.C. § 1131. Service connection may also be granted for a disability initially diagnosed after service when all of the evidence shows it to have been incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d) (2018). Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection can also be granted for a disability that is proximately due to, or the result of, a service-connected disability. 38 C.F.R. 3.310; Allen v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 439 (1995). When service connection is thus established for a secondary condition, the secondary condition shall be considered a part of the original condition. 38 C.F.R. 3.310(a). Service connection can be granted for a disability that is aggravated by a service-connected disability. Compensation can be paid for any additional impairment resulting from the service-connected disability. 38 C.F.R. 3.310; Allen v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 439 (1995). Except as provided in 38 C.F.R. 3.300(c) (claims for secondary service connection based on the effects of tobacco products received after June 9, 1998), disability which is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury shall be service connected. When service connection is thus established for a secondary condition, the secondary condition shall be considered a part of the original condition. 38 C.F.R. 3.310(a). Any increase in severity of a nonservice-connected disease or injury that is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury, and not due to the natural progress of the nonservice-connected disease, will be service connected. 38 C.F.R. 3.310(b). Once the evidence has been assembled, it is the Board’s responsibility to evaluate the evidence. 38 U.S.C. § 7104(a). The Secretary shall consider all information and lay and medical evidence of record in a case before the Secretary with respect to benefits under laws administered by the Secretary. When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination of a matter, the Secretary shall give the benefit of the doubt to the claimant. 38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 4.3. 1. Entitlement to service connection for major depressive disorder is granted. Based upon a review of the record, the Board finds that service connection for a major depressive disorder is warranted because there is competent and credible evidence demonstrating that the depressive disorder is related to an event in active service. The service treatment records document that the Veteran was stabbed when he was on leave in January 1979. Indeed, service connection is in effect for residuals of a stab wound and residual scarring. A May 1979 service treatment record notes an impression of anxiety. The June 1979 separation report of medical history indicates that the Veteran had a history of nervousness. The record also includes evidence associating the Veteran’s claimed psychiatric disorder to his active service. The May 2018 Mental Health Disorders Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) associates his major depressive disorder with anxiety to his active service. The psychologist who completed the Mental Health Disorders DBQ related the major depressive disorder with anxiety to the event when the Veteran was stabbed in active service. (He was stabbed when home on leave.) The psychologist noted that the Veteran reported that this event led to his honorable discharge from service due to the injuries and that this event impacts him till this day. The Veteran described nightmares and flashbacks about the stabbing as well as the need for psychiatric medication. The Board finds that the May 2018 DBQ medical opinion is based on sufficient facts and data. Nieves-Rodriguez v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 295 (2008). The psychologist who rendered the opinion has the skill and expertise to analyze the medical evidence and render an opinion as to whether events in active service led to the major depressive disorder. Black v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 279, 284 (1997). Accordingly, the Board finds that the evidence supports a grant of service connection for a major depressive disorder. The medical opinion relates the major depressive disorder to an event in service (the in service stabbing and injuries). Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the Board finds that the criteria for service connection for a major depressive disorder have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. The claim of service connection for a major depressive disorder is granted. 2. Entitlement to service connection for a chronic headache disability, to include as secondary to the service-connected major depressive disorder, is granted. The Board concludes that the evidence shows that it is as likely as not that the Veteran has a chronic headache disability proximately due to the now service-connected major depressive disorder. The record includes competent evidence associating the claimed headaches disorder to the now service-connected major depressive disorder. Specifically, the June 2018 Headaches Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) associates the Veteran’s headaches to his psychiatric disorder. The physician noted that the Veteran reported that he has been experiencing headaches for several years and that in the past few years he experienced headaches three times a week. The physician opined that the psychiatric disorder precipitated the headaches. The Board finds that the evidence supports a grant of service connection for a chronic headache disability as secondary to the service-connected major depressive disorder. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the Board finds that the criteria for service connection for a chronic headache disability, secondary to the now service-connected major depressive disorder, have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. This service connection for headaches claim is thus granted. THERESA M. CATINO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD C.L. Krasinski, Counsel