Citation Nr: 18156328 Decision Date: 12/07/18 Archive Date: 12/07/18 DOCKET NO. 16-45 551 DATE: December 7, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is granted. REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for seborrheic dermatitis is remanded. FINDING OF FACT Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, his PTSD is at least as likely as not related to his experience witnessing the death of a fellow servicemember during his active service in Vietnam. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for PTSD are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1111, 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303(a), 3.304. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from March 1969 to March 1975. These matters come before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2014 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). 1. Entitlement to service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) The Veteran contends that he has PTSD due to his experiences in Vietnam. The Board concludes that the Veteran has a current diagnosis of PTSD that is related to witnessing the death of a fellow service-member in service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107(b); Holton v. Shinseki, 557 F.3d 1363, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2009); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). 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; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection for PTSD requires medical evidence diagnosing the condition in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 4.125(a), credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor actually occurred, and a link, established by medical evidence, between current symptomatology and an in-service stressor. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f). In this case, the Veteran has submitted a printout of data concerning the death of a specific servicemember, J.C., which indicates that J.C. was killed in May 1970 at Pleiku, South Vietnam. The Veteran’s personnel records indicate that he served in Pleiku in 1970, and received a commendation medal as part of a group that turned off a dangerously overheated boiler and pulled an unconscious soldier to safety. The Board finds that this information is sufficient to corroborate the Veteran’s stressor. A September 2014 VA examination found that the Veteran did not meet the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis, but that he did have a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder and anxiety disorder. The Veteran reported stressors of seeing several people injured or killed in service, and the examiner found that these stressors would be sufficient to support a diagnosis of PTSD. The examiner provided a negative nexus opinion as to anxiety disorder, explaining that the anxiety disorder is at least as likely as not secondary to alcohol use. A September 2016 private psychologist diagnosed the Veteran with PTSD. The Veteran related his experiences during an attack on the perimeter during the winter of 1970, including seeing several fellow service members wounded and a specific fellow service member killed. The private psychologist concluded that this trauma is more likely than not the nexus between the Veteran’s current symptoms and military experience. The Board finds that the September 2016 private opinion has at least as much probative value as the September 2014 VA examination. Therefore, the evidence is at least in equipoise, and the Board will resolve reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, and grant the claim of entitlement to service connection for PTSD. REASONS FOR REMAND 2. Entitlement to service connection for seborrheic dermatitis is remanded. The Board finds that the August 2014 VA skin examination does not contain an adequate rationale because it does not explain why the fact that the Veteran’s service treatment records (STRs) show unremarkable skin exams support the conclusion that the Veteran’s seborrheic dermatitis is less likely than not related to service. A medical examination report must contain not only clear conclusions with supporting data, but also a reasoned medical explanation connecting the two. See Stefl v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 120, 124 (2007). A new examination should be scheduled upon remand. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any skin disability, to include seborrheic dermatitis. The examiner must opine whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that any skin disability, to include seborrheic dermatitis, is related to an in-service injury, event, or disease. A complete rationale that contains not only clear conclusions with supporting data, but also a reasoned medical explanation connecting the two, must be provided for the opinion proffered. In rendering the requested rationale, the examiner must reconcile his/her opinion with the Veteran’s assertion in a September 2016 VA Form 9 that he has had this condition since service, and that the Veteran denied any skin disease in December 1971, November 1976 and December 1982. After the above development, and any additionally indicated development, has been completed, readjudicate the issue on appeal. If the benefit sought is not granted to the Veteran’s satisfaction, send the Veteran and his   representative a Supplemental Statement of the Case and provide an opportunity to respond. If necessary, return the case to the Board for further appellate review. U. R. POWELL Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD A. Budd, Counsel