Citation Nr: 21071960 Decision Date: 12/01/21 Archive Date: 12/01/21 DOCKET NO. 17-26 161 DATE: December 1, 2021 ORDER New and material evidence having been received, the petition to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is granted. REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include PTSD, is remanded. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. Service connection for PTSD was denied in an unappealed May 2013 rating decision; a petition to reopen a claim for service connection for PTSD was denied in an unappealed August 2014 rating decision. 2. Evidence received since the August 2014 rating decision is new and material and raises a reasonable possibility of granting the claim of entitlement to service connection for PTSD. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The August 2014 rating decision is final. 38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. § 3.160(d). 2. The evidence received since the August 2014 rating decision is new and material, and the claim of entitlement to service connection for PTSD is reopened. 38 U.S.C. § 5108; 38 C.F.R. § 3.156. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from October 1972 until October 1975. This case comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2016 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regional office (RO) rating decision. In August 2021, the Veteran participated in a hearing before the undersigned; a transcript is associated with the claims file. Preliminarily, the Board notes that when a Veteran makes a claim for PTSD, he is seeking service connection for symptoms regardless of how those symptoms are diagnosed or labeled. See Clemons v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 1 (2009). Therefore, the Board has recharacterized the issue into a claim for any acquired psychiatric disability. See id. New and Material Evidence VA may reopen and review a claim that has been previously denied if new and material evidence is submitted. 38 U.S.C. § 5108; 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(a). New evidence is evidence not previously submitted to agency decision makers. Material evidence is evidence that, by itself or when considered with previous evidence of record, relates to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate the claim. New and material evidence can be neither cumulative nor redundant of the evidence of record at the time of the last final denial of the claim sought to be reopened and must raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim. 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(a). The Board must review all evidence submitted by or on behalf of a claimant since the last final denial on any basis to determine whether a claim must be reopened. Evans v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 273 (1996). New and material evidence is not required as to each previously unproven element of a claim. Shade v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 110 (2010). The Board finds that new and material evidence regarding the Veteran's claimed PTSD has been received since the August 2014 denial, to include post-service treatment records, lay statements, and his August 2021 testimony before the undersigned. Specifically, at the hearing, the Veteran credibly reported that his psychiatric symptoms began in service and have continued thereafter after serving on funeral detail. This new evidence relates to unestablished facts necessary to substantiate the claim. Accordingly, the Board finds that the threshold for reopening the claim has been met, and the claim for service connection for PTSD is reopened. REASONS FOR REMAND Entitlement to service connection for a psychiatric disability is remanded. Having reopened the previously denied claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD, the Board finds that additional development is warranted in this case before a decision may be rendered. Specifically, the Veteran must be afforded a VA examination. VA's duty to assist includes providing a medical examination and obtaining an opinion when it is necessary to make a decision on a claim. 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(d); 38 C.F.R. § 3.159. Such development is necessary if the information and evidence of record does not contain sufficient competent medical evidence to decide the claim, but (1) contains competent evidence of a diagnosed disability or symptoms of disability, (2) establishes that the Veteran suffered an event, injury or disease in service, or has a presumptive disease during the pertinent presumptive period, and (3) indicates that the claimed disability may be associated with the in-service event, injury, or disease, or with another service-connected disability. 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)(4); McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79, 83-86 (2006). The threshold for finding a link between a current disability and service so as to require medical examination is low. Locklear v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 410 (2006). Here, the Veteran is diagnosed with several psychiatric disabilities, including PTSD and major depressive disorder. He has reported that he served on a funeral detail while on active duty, including participating in two to five funerals per month. Furthermore, the Veteran credibly testified at the August 2021 hearing that his psychiatric symptoms onset about 3 months after starting the funeral detail and have continued thereafter. The Veteran described that he started "waking up at night with bad dreams. Later on, it progressed to night sweats, anxiety, depression started setting in. I remember feeling like just doing nothing . . . It was not a very pleasant time for me." He additionally described how "the field details were very emotional," and that the funerals "just started affecting me emotionally, mentally, physically." The Veteran also testified that his service-connected tinnitus aggravates his psychiatric disability. Specifically, he testified that every time he has ringing in the ears, "it makes me go into a depression." As the Veteran is currently diagnosed with multiple current psychiatric disabilities, has supplied credible statements indicating that his psychiatric symptoms onset in service and continued thereafter, as well as testimony that his service-connected tinnitus has aggravated his psychiatric disability, remand is necessary to obtain a VA examination on both direct and secondary theories of entitlement. McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79, 83-86 (2006). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Obtain a VA examination regarding whether the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder is related to service. The entire claims file, to include a copy of this remand, must be reviewed in conjunction with the opinion. The examiner should identify each psychiatric disorder experienced by the Veteran during the appeal period. If PTSD is diagnosed, the examiner should offer an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not that PTSD is due at least in part to a verified in-service stressor event or fear of hostile action during service. For each other psychiatric disorder found to be present, the examiner should provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not the disorder had its onset in service or is otherwise related to service. The examiner should also offer an opinion as to whether any psychiatric disability was caused or aggravated by service-connected tinnitus. The rationale for all opinions expressed must be provided. If the examiner is unable to provide the requested opinion, he or she must explain why the opinion cannot be provided. The examiner must consider and discuss the Veteran's August 2021 testimony that his psychiatric symptoms onset in service and continued thereafter, as well as the April 2014 mental health letter opining that his psychiatric "symptoms are more likely than not related to the traumas he was exposed to during his military service and have significantly affected all aspects of his life including his personal and work life." Caroline B. Fleming Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Finelli, 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.