Citation Nr: 20002180
Decision Date: 01/09/20	Archive Date: 01/09/20

DOCKET NO. 17-40 855
DATE: January 9, 2020

ORDER

Service connection for schizophrenia is granted.

FINDING OF FACT

Schizophrenia, a psychosis, manifested to a compensable degree within one year of service. 

CONCLUSION OF LAW

Service connection for schizophrenia is granted. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1113; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309, 3.384.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from July 1992 to January 2000.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2014 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

The appellant testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) in October 2019. A transcript of the proceeding is of record.

1. Entitlement to service connection for schizophrenia, paranoid type

Generally, to establish service connection, a claimant must show: (1) a present disability; (2) an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service, the so-called “nexus” requirement. See 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303; see also Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). A disability that is proximately due to, the result of, or aggravated by a service-connected disease or injury shall be service connected. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310.

Certain chronic disabilities, to include schizophrenia, are presumed to have been incurred in or aggravated by service if manifest to a compensable degree within one year of discharge from service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309(a), 3.384.

Here, the Veteran has alleged that he first noticed symptoms of his psychosis in 1999. These symptoms included hearing voices and paranoia. Upon review, there is no dispute that the Veteran has been diagnosed with schizophrenia during the appeal period. 

The Veteran’s active duty service ended on January 2, 2000. His post service treatment records show that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia on January 24, 2001, a year and 22 days after service. The Board notes that this is beyond the one-year presumptive period, however the record shows the Veteran sought treatment for psychosis related symptoms prior to the one-year expiration. Specifically, treatment records show that he sought a psychiatric evaluation in April 2000 for depression and psychosis. The Veteran believed people could read his mind. The examiner noted that he had paranoid ideas, low energy, and signs of depression. The Veteran was prescribed medication and a therapy plan. 

Treatment records demonstrate that the Veteran attended therapy and took medication to control the symptoms of his psychosis throughout the year following discharge from service to manage his hallucinations, depression, and paranoia. In July 2000, the Veteran was hospitalized for suicidal ideation, as he felt it would stop the voices in his head.

Based on the Veteran’s documented symptoms and subsequent hospitalization and diagnosis of schizophrenia. The medical and lay evidence of record supports that his psychosis manifested to a compensable degree within one-year of discharge from service. Service connection for schizophrenia is therefore warranted.  

 

M. Donohue

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	E. V. Palatt, Associate Counsel

The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential, and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.