Citation Nr: 18157414 Decision Date: 12/12/18 Archive Date: 12/12/18 DOCKET NO. 15-40 174 DATE: December 12, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric condition, to include depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service in the United States Army from September 1979 to March 1992. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2014 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Waco, Texas. The Veteran submitted a notice of disagreement (NOD) in September 2014. A statement of the case (SOC) was issued in October 2015. The Veteran perfected a timely substantive appeal via VA Form 9 in November 2015. A supplemental SOC was issued in March 2016. A claim of entitlement to service connection for PTSD was originally denied in a July 2012 rating decision. The Veteran was notified via letter dated July 16, 2012. He did not submit a NOD. However, on July 5, 2013, he submitted VA Form 21-4142 providing authorization for VA to obtain private psychiatric treatment records. The records were obtained in March 2014 and contained a diagnosis of PTSD by a private provider. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has found that when new and material evidence is received within one year of a rating decision addressing the condition, 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(b) requires any subsequent decision to relate back to the original claim. Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 251 (2010); see Bond v. Shinseki, 659 F.3d 1362 (Fed. Cir. 2011). Here, the Veteran provided notice of new and material evidence, including private treatment records containing a PTSD diagnosis, within one year of the July 2012 rating decision, which denied the claim due to the absence of any clinically diagnosed mental disorder. Although the Veteran did not explicitly express disagreement with the July 2012 rating decision, the private treatment records containing a PTSD diagnosis constitute new and material evidence. See 38 U.S.C. § 7105 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.156(b), 20.201 (2017). Therefore, the Board finds that this claim is properly characterized as an appeal of the initial decision in the July 2012 rating decision. Finally, as reflected on the title page of this decision, the Board has recharacterized the claim of entitlement to service connection for PTSD to encompass a claim of entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric condition, variously diagnosed as PTSD and depression. See Clemons v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 1 (2009) (holding that claims for service connection for psychiatric disorders such as PTSD may encompass claims for service connection for all diagnosed psychiatric disorders). 1. Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric condition, to include depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, is remanded. The Veteran contends that service connection is warranted for an acquired psychiatric condition incurred as the result of his service. He initially underwent VA psychiatric examination in June 2012. The examiner declined to diagnose PTSD or any mental disorder under DSM-IV criteria. Subsequently, May 2012 private treatment records reflecting a PTSD diagnosis were received. The Veteran underwent further VA examination in July 2014. Applying DSM-V criteria, the examiner again failed to find grounds for a diagnosis of PTSD or any other mental disorder. The RO continued the denial of the claim in a September 2015 SOC and a March 2016 SSOC, stating that the evidence did not reflect a confirmed diagnosis by a VA examiner of PTSD due to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity. Following certification of the appeal to the Board, additional VA treatment records were associated with the claims file. These records reflect that the Veteran’s mental health was evaluated in August 2017. He was diagnosed with major depression and a neurocognitive disorder. An unspecified stressor disorder was ruled out. More information is needed to allow the Board to make a fully-informed decision. While the recent VA treatment records reflect that the Veteran has various psychiatric diagnoses, no examiner has opined whether any such diagnosis is at least as likely as not related to the conceded in-service stressors. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Schedule the Veteran for a psychiatric examination to determine the nature and etiology of any acquired psychiatric disorder. (a.) For each acquired psychiatric disorder, the examiner must opine whether the diagnosed disorder is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease, to include the conceded stressors of fearing an ambush, firing rockets into enemy convoys, and witnessing dead bodies during his deployment in Saudi Arabia. i. The examiner must discuss all psychiatric diagnoses present during the current appeal period, to include major depression and a neurocognitive disorder as reflected in August 2017 VA treatment records. TANYA SMITH Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Jamison, Elizabeth G.