Citation Nr: 18151600
Decision Date: 11/19/18	Archive Date: 11/19/18

DOCKET NO. 14-03 160
DATE:	November 19, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 50 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from October 1968 to February 1970.  This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2010 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  
This issue was previously remanded by the Board in September 2017.
A hearing was held before the undersigned in November 2018.  
Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 50 percent for PTSD is remanded.
The Veteran claims he is entitled to a rating in excess of 50 percent for his PTSD.  In November 2018, the Veteran testified before the Board regarding his symptoms of PTSD.  His testimony indicates that his symptoms may have worsened since the last VA examination in February 2013.  Specifically, the Veteran testified that he has outbursts of anger, which he considers to be “volcanic eruptions”, and that his ability to maintain personal relationships, particularly intimate relationships with his spouse, has suffered greatly due to his PTSD.  
The Board acknowledges that the Veteran submitted in November 2016 a Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) completed by K.D.  However, the symptoms described by the Veteran at the November 2018 hearing also reflect a potential worsening since the completion of that DBQ.
As such, in light of the Veteran’s claims of worsening of symptoms since his most recent examinations of record and his testimony at the Board hearing in November 2018, the claim must be remanded to obtain an examination to address the current severity of symptoms of the service-connected PTSD.  38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)(4)(i); see Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400, 403 (1997); see also Green v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 121, 124 (1991). 
As the Veteran is also in receipt of VA treatment for his PTSD, updated treatment records should be obtained upon remand. 
The matter is REMANDED for the following actions:
1. Obtain the Veteran’s VA treatment records from July 2016 to the present. 
With any needed assistance from the Veteran, obtain any other identified outstanding private or Vet Center records.
If any of the records requested are unavailable, clearly document the claims file to that effect and notify the Veteran of any inability to obtain these records, in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(e).
2. After receiving all additional records, schedule the Veteran for an appropriate VA examination to determine the current nature and severity of his service-connected PTSD.  The electronic claims file must be made available to the examiner for review in conjunction with the examination.
All pertinent symptomatology and findings must be reported in detail.  All indicated diagnostic tests and studies must be accomplished.  The clinician should identify the nature and severity of all manifestations of the Veteran’s PTSD, to include the Veteran’s competent and credible lay statements regarding the current manifestations of his PTSD symptoms.  
 
M. SORISIO
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	LM Stallings, Associate Counsel