Citation Nr: 18159674
Decision Date: 12/19/18	Archive Date: 12/19/18

DOCKET NO. 13-11 102
DATE:	December 19, 2018
ORDER
Service connection for hypertension as secondary to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is granted.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from August 1969 to February 1972.
2. The Veteran has a current diagnosis of hypertension.
3. The Veteran is service-connected for PTSD.
4. The August 2018 opinion of Dr. G.K., the Veteran’s primary care physician, is the only adequate opinion of record addressing the etiology of the Veteran’s hypertension.  (The May 2017 opinion does not address the medical evidence of record and is not responsive to the April 2017 remand directives, the June 2017 opinion impermissibly concludes that the Veteran’s hypertension was not caused by his PTSD because he developed hypertension before the effective date of his award of service connection for PTSD, and the February 2018 opinion impermissibly bases its conclusion on the absence of evidence.)
5. In his August 2018 opinion, Dr. G.K. cited to medical studies that have shown an epidemiologic association between hypertension and PTSD, and he opined that given this medical evidence, the Veteran’s hypertension is causatively related to his PTSD. 
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for service connection for hypertension as secondary to PTSD are met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.310.
 
S. BUSH
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	D.M. Badaczewski, Associate Counsel