Citation Nr: 18159486 Decision Date: 12/20/18 Archive Date: 12/19/18 DOCKET NO. 14-00 654 DATE: December 20, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include anxiety, depression, and paranoid schizophrenia, is remanded. Whether new and material evidence has been received to reopen a claim for entitlement to service connection for a personality disorder is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Army from January 1973 to January 1974. These matters come before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2012 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The January 2012 rating decision reopened the claim for service connection for a personality disorder and denied the claim for service connection for a personality disorder. Despite the RO’s action, the Board must perform its own de novo review of whether new and material evidence has been received to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for a personality disorder before addressing the claim on its merits. See 38 U.S.C. § 7104; see also Barnett v. Brown, 83 F.3d 1380 (Fed. Cir. 1996). The Veteran and R.J. testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at an April 2017 videoconference hearing. In November 2017, the Board remanded the issues on appeal for additional development. As the actions specified in the remand have been substantially completed, the matters have been properly returned to the Board for appellate consideration. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998); D’Aries v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 97, 105 (2008). 1. Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include anxiety, depression, and paranoid schizophrenia, is remanded. In a June 2018 statement, the Veteran reported that in 1973, during service, he was sexually assaulted at Redstone Arsenal, an U.S. Army Post. He said that he was drugged and found in his underwear. The record does document that the Veteran was present at Redstone Arsenal in 1973. See April 1973 service treatment record. He reported that following the incident, he had received treatment at Fox Army Hospital, and he told the doctor about being sexually assaulted. The record does not include any hospital records from that facility. When he reported the incident to his Company Commander, the Veteran said he was told to forget about it. Finally, the Veteran also indicated that he informed the May 2018 VA examiner about the in-service sexual assault, but the VA examination report does not include any documentation of the reported incident. Based on the foregoing, the Board finds that a remand is required for further development. In addition to attempting to locate the Veteran’s hospital records from 1973 at Fox Army Hospital and obtaining a new VA opinion to address the Veteran’s reported in-service sexual assault, the Board must also provide the Veteran with proper notice for psychiatric disorder claims asserting military sexual trauma. 2. Whether new and material evidence has been received to reopen a claim for entitlement to service connection for a personality disorder is remanded. The Board finds that it would be premature to address whether to reopen the Veteran’s service connection claim for a personality disorder until the service connection claim for an acquired psychiatric disorder has been considered, as these issues are inextricably intertwined. Therefore, the issue of whether new and material evidence has been received to reopen a claim for entitlement to service connection for a personality disorder must also be remanded. See Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180, 183 (1991). The matters are REMANDED for the following actions: 1. Send the Veteran notice required for psychiatric disorder claims based on military sexual trauma, and allow time for a response. Then, attempt to corroborate the Veteran’s in-service stressor based on military sexual trauma. If more details are needed, contact the Veteran to request the information. 2. Obtain the Veteran’s records of any inpatient treatment at Fox Army Hospital in 1973. Document all requests for information as well as all responses in the claims file. 3. Obtain all the Veteran’s outstanding mental health treatment records that are not currently of record. 4. Obtain an addendum opinion from an appropriate clinician as to whether any of the Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disorders, to include unspecified depressive disorder, unspecified anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and paranoid schizophrenia, are at least as likely as not related to his active duty service, to include his reported in-service sexual assault. A complete rationale with discussion of medical literature for any opinion expressed must be provided. If an opinion cannot be expressed without resort to speculation, discuss why this is the case. 5. After the above development, and any additionally indicated development, has been completed, readjudicate the issues on appeal, including the inextricably intertwined issue of whether new and material evidence has been received to reopen a claim for entitlement to service connection for a personality disorder. If the benefits sought on appeal are 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. LESLEY A. REIN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Journet Shaw