Citation Nr: 20028867 Decision Date: 04/24/20 Archive Date: 04/24/20 DOCKET NO. 14-28 742 DATE: April 24, 2020 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric condition is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, his acquired psychiatric disorder of depression with anxiety disorder and panic attacks is at least as likely as not related to an in-service personal assault. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder of depression with anxiety disorder and panic attacks are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from June 1972 to June 1975. The Board has recharacterized the Veteran’s claims for service connection for PTSD and service connection for anxiety as a single claim for any acquired psychiatric disorder. Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric condition The Veteran asserts that he has an acquired psychiatric disorder which is related to an in-service personal assault. The Board concludes that the Veteran has a current disability that is related to an in-service personal assault. 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). The Veteran’s psychiatric condition has been variously diagnosed as panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder with history of specific phobia (claustrophobia), bipolar disorder, agoraphobia, PTSD, persistent major depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. The Board has ordered multiple VA examinations and opinions to clarify the Veteran’s psychiatric diagnosis or diagnoses and determine whether he has an acquired psychiatric condition which began in or is otherwise related to an in-service injury, event, or disease. Since July 2015 the Board has remanded this issue four times and received eight opinions from two VA examiners. These eight opinions, whether taken individually or in conjunction with each other, have failed to comply with the Board’s orders regarding the required review of records and consideration of specific evidence. On review of the record, the Board finds that the Veteran’s medical treatment records contain sufficient information to grant service connection for depression with anxiety and panic attacks, and that remanding the issue for further examination would not result in any further benefit to the Veteran and would cause an unnecessary delay in the adjudication of the case. See Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426 (1994); Soyini v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 540 (1991) (remand not required when it would impose unnecessary burdens on VA adjudication system with no benefit flowing to the Veteran). VA treatment records from May 2014 through September 2014 show the Veteran has a current diagnosis of depression with anxiety and panic attacks. Thus, the question becomes whether the current disability is related to service. On this question there are opinions in favor of and against the claim. The evidence against the claim includes the VA examinations and opinions of October 2015, April 2016, December 2016, April 2017, July 2017, January 2018, September 2019, and December 2019. The Board notes that only two examinations were conducted, the first in October 2015 and the second in January 2018, and that despite repeated requests for clarification the addendum opinions provided essentially copied and pasted earlier opinions without providing the necessary expanded or improved rationales. Because of the deficiencies with these exams and opinions, the Board assigns them little probative weight. The evidence in favor of the claim includes the Veteran’s statements, a lay statement provided by a close family friend, the Veteran’s military personnel records, and the Veteran’s post-service treatment records. While the Veteran’s service treatment records are silent for complaint or diagnosis of any psychiatric condition, the Veteran has repeatedly stated that he was constantly sexually harassed by other soldiers, culminating in a threat of rape at knife point on New Year’s 1972. The Veteran did not report this incident at the time, but his personnel records do confirm his statements that at 18 years old he requested to stay assigned to a base in Iceland while his unit transferred back to the United States. A lay statement submitted in September 2012 described the Veteran’s changed personality upon return from service. Where he had previously been a “wonderful young man” he was now withdrawn, antisocial, and then moved away and remained estranged from his family for years. Treatment records show that in 1997 the Veteran experienced a panic attack severe enough to send him to the emergency room, the first time he had recorded mental health treatment. He has stated that this was not his first panic attack, just the first that was so severe as to warrant emergency treatment. In May 2014 the Veteran’s social worker, the local VA MST coordinator, evaluated the Veteran using the Clinician-Administered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale (CAPS), and Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). His scores indicated severe PTSD and severe depression symptoms. The social worker found the Veteran’s description of his in-service assault credible and consistent with his medical history and reported symptoms. In August 2014 and September 2014, the Veteran completed a VA in-patient treatment program for PTSD and anxiety disorders with his claimed in-service personal assault listed as his “index trauma” supporting these diagnoses. His diagnoses on discharge were PTSD, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks, linked to his original in-service personal assault. Because the regional office was unable to independently confirm the Veteran’s in-service personal assault, there was insufficient evidence to support service connection for PTSD with this as the underlying stressor. However, upon review of the record, the Board finds the evidence to at least be in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s current depression with anxiety and panic attacks is related to his reported personal assault in service. Accordingly, after resolving all doubt in favor of the Veteran, the Board finds that service connection for depression with anxiety and panic attacks is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. L. M. BARNARD Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Zimmerman 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.