Citation Nr: 18154653
Decision Date: 11/30/18	Archive Date: 11/30/18

DOCKET NO. 15-34 600
DATE:	November 30, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 30 percent for service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is remanded. 
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Navy from November 1976 to June 1988. 
The matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a August 2014 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Los Angles, California. 
In his September 2015 substantive appeal (VA Form 9), the Veteran requested a videoconference hearing before a Veterans Law Judge and a hearing was scheduled to be held in November 2018. The Veteran failed to appear for that hearing and did not provide good cause for this failure to appear; therefore, his hearing request is deemed to have been withdrawn. 38 C.F.R. § 20.704(d). 
The Veteran seeks an initial disability rating in excess of 30 percent for his service-connected PTSD. 
Although further delay is regrettable, the Board finds that additional development is necessary prior to appellate review. 
The Board observes that the Veteran was last afforded a VA examination addressing the severity of his service-connected PTSD in August 2014 and that the Veteran’s 2016 VA medical treatment records indicate that his symptomatology may have worsened. When the evidence indicates that a disability has worsened since the last VA examination, and the last examination is too remote to constitute a contemporaneous examination, a new examination is required. See 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(d); 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)(4); see also Weggenmann v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 281 (1993). Therefore, in light of the evidence suggesting that the Veteran’s service-connected PTSD may have worsened since the 2014 VA examination, the Board finds that a new VA examination is necessary to assess the current severity of the Veteran’s PTSD. 
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Obtain updated VA treatment records. 
2.  Thereafter, schedule the Veteran for an examination with an appropriate clinician to determine the current severity of his PTSD and its impact on his occupational and social functioning. The claims file should be made available to the examiner for review, and the examiner must specifically acknowledge receipt and review of the claims file. 
 
The examiner must provide a comprehensive report that includes a complete rationale for all opinions and conclusions reached. 
 
Nathaniel J. Doan
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	C. Robinson, Associate Counsel