Citation Nr: 21071640 Decision Date: 12/01/21 Archive Date: 12/01/21 DOCKET NO. 17-53 339 DATE: December 1, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PSTD), is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral foot disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for a stomach disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded. Entitlement to an increased rating in excess of 10 percent for a back disability is remanded. Entitlement to an increased rating in excess of 10 percent for a right knee disability is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from June 1972 to June 1974. A claim for service connection for a mental disability may encompass claims for service connection of any mental disability that may reasonably be encompassed by several factors, including the veteran's description of the claim, the symptoms the veteran describes and the information the veteran submits or that the Secretary obtains in support of the claim. Clemons v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 1, 5 (2009). Pursuant to Clemons, the Board has taken an expansive view of the claims of entitlement to service connection for PTSD and re-characterized it as entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder. The Veteran had a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in March 2021. A transcript has been associated with the file. In this hearing, the record was left open for 30 days for the Veteran to submit additional evidence. New evidence was submitted after the Veteran's hearing. However, it was outside the window of the record being left open from his March 2021 hearing. In September 2021, the Board sent a letter to the Veteran asking whether he would like this evidence reviewed by the AOJ or if he would like to submit a waiver of this evidence. In October 2021, the Veteran submitted a correspondence saying he wanted these matters remanded to the AOJ for additional review. Therefore, the matters are being remanded. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: (Continued on the next page) 1. After undertaking any other appropriate development deemed necessary, readjudicate the issues on appeal based on the additional evidence of record. If the determinations remain adverse to the Veteran, he must be provided with a supplemental statement of the case. An appropriate period of time must then be allowed for a response before the record is returned to the Board for further review. John J. Crowley Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board A. Snoparsky 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.