Citation Nr: 18155154 Decision Date: 12/03/18 Archive Date: 12/03/18 DOCKET NO. 17-15 548 DATE: December 3, 2018 ORDER Service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression, is granted. FINDING OF FACT The evidence is in relative equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disability, to include PTSD and major depression, was related to an in-service exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. CONCLUSION OF LAW Resolving all reasonable doubts in the Veteran’s favor, the criteria for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 1154, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from August 1957 to February 1958. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2014 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Louisville, Kentucky. Service Connection Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active service, even if the disability was initially diagnosed after service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (2017). The Veteran contends that he has an acquired psychiatric disability due to exposure to contaminated water while stationed at Camp Lejeune. See, e.g., October 2014 Statement. The Veteran’s personnel records document that he was stationed at Camp Lejeune from November to December 1957, and the RO has found that the Veteran was exposed to contaminated water based on such service at Camp Lejeune. The Board finds that the Veteran was exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune during his service. The Board resolves all reasonable doubts in the Veteran’s favor and finds that service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability is warranted. Given that in a July 2013 letter, Dr. N.P., a private psychologist, diagnosed the Veteran with PTSD and major depression, the remaining inquiry is whether the Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disability was related to his service.   In a July 2016 Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) report, the examiner diagnosed adjustment disorder with mixed depressed mood and anxiety and rendered a negative nexus opinion. As rationale, the examiner attributed the Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disability to his wife’s “breast cancer and recent hip replacement surgery,” but in doing so, the examiner also acknowledged that the Veteran “appears to have some negative rumination regarding potential diseases that could be caused by the potential contaminated water exposure [at Camp Lejeune].” In the July 2013 letter, Dr. N.P. stated that he has been treating the Veteran for his psychiatric symptoms since January 2013 and rendered a positive nexus opinion based on the Veteran’s exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. As rationale, Dr. N.P. observed that the Veteran was “quite depressed as well as obsessive” due to his fear that he had medical conditions, to include non-service-connected Pemphigoid (diagnosed in a November 2012 surgical pathology report), related to his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. Dr. N.P. further assessed that the Veteran’s “emotional reaction has triggered premorbid undiagnosed conditions that have severely destabilized him and his ability to function in a manner he was previously capable of doing.” In a March 2017 letter, Dr. N.P. further assessed that the Veteran had PTSD symptoms due to his exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, given that “his response involved intense fear” and he “persistently re-experiences this trauma in the form of images and obsessive thoughts that haunt him.” Dr. N.P. further noted that the Veteran’s PTSD symptoms created “significant distress and has interfered in many areas of his life.” (Continued on the next page) The Board finds that the evidence is at least in relative equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s claimed disability is due to his service. In this regard, Dr. N.P.’s opinions serve to link the current acquired psychiatric disability, to include PTSD and major depressive disorder, to the Veteran’s in-service exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, as the opinion reflects full consideration of all of the pertinent evidence of record and included a complete rationale for the opinion rendered with supporting data. See Nieves-Rodriguez v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 295, 304 (2008); Stefl v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 120, 124 (2007). Accordingly, the criteria for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability are met. In reaching this conclusion, the benefit of doubt doctrine has been applied where appropriate. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; 3.304(f); see also Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49, 53 (1990). MARJORIE A. AUER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD S. Kim, Associate Counsel