Citation Nr: 21073084 Decision Date: 12/07/21 Archive Date: 12/07/21 DOCKET NO. 17-38 623 DATE: December 7, 2021 REMANDED Service connection for acquired psychiatric condition, to include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Air Force from January 1977 to October 1978. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2015 rating decision from a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In October 2021, the Veteran appeared at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. The Veteran's claims of service connection for an acquired psychiatric condition, to include PTSD, anxiety and depression have been recharacterized to include all psychiatric conditions, to comport with the evidence of record. See Clemons v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 1 (2009). Acquired psychiatric condition The Veteran asserts that service connection is warranted for his psychiatric condition since his mental health problem started in service and continued thereafter. In particular, the Veteran testified that he was molested in service, was ashamed of what took place and that his psychiatric disability stems from the in-service personal assault. In support of this claim, the Veteran reported suffering from anxiety, PTSD, paranoia and self-medicated his symptoms with alcohol and drugs. Additionally, he stated his psychiatric problems continued and worsened after service. Further, he started seeing doctors outside of VA until he was informed that he could receive treatment at VA. See BVA hearing transcript (October 2021). Indeed, his VA medical treatment record shows treatment for his diagnosed PTSD, anxiety and depression, including medications. See VA medical treatment record (May 2017). To date, he has not been provided a VA psychiatric examination and the Board finds affording one to the Veteran is necessary to adjudicate this appeal. Moreover, the Veteran requests that he be afforded a VA psychiatric examination and that this case be remanded so that he can be attend a VA psychiatric examination. The Board agrees that the Veteran should be afforded a VA psychiatric examination. Therefore, on remand the Veteran should be provided a VA medical examination to determine the onset, nature, etiology and cause of his psychiatric condition. As there is no examination to determine the nature and onset of his psychiatric condition, a remand is necessary to have the Veteran examined and for an examiner to review his claims folder and provide opinions necessary to adjudicate this appeal. In this regard, the Board notes that a claim of service connection for psychiatric disability based on personal assault refers broadly to stressor events involving harm perpetrated by a person who is not considered part of an enemy force. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304 (f)(5). VA acknowledges the unique problems veterans face in documenting their claims because of the sensitive and extremely personal nature of assault. To compensate for the difficulties in reporting and producing evidence to support the occurrence of a stressor, evidence from sources other than the Veteran's service records may corroborate the Veteran's account of the stressor incident. In fact, the absence of in-service reports or treatments cannot be considered "negative evidence" in personal assault cases. See AZ v. Shinseki, 731 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Significantly, unlike in other psychiatric disorder claims, an after-the-fact medical opinion can serve as the credible supporting evidence of the stressor personal assault claims. See Menegassi v. Shinseki, 638 F.3d 1379 (fed. Cir. 2011). Finally, as the Veteran receives regular VA care, his updated VA outpatient treatment records must be associated with the claims file. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain complete VA and Non-VA treatment records of the Veteran's psychiatric condition. 2. Notify the Veteran that he may submit additional lay statements from himself and from other individuals who have first-hand knowledge, and/or were contemporaneously informed of his in-service and post-service psychiatric condition. The Veteran should be provided an appropriate amount of time to submit this lay evidence. 3. Schedule a VA examination (or telehealth interview, review of the record, etc. if an in-person examination is not feasible). Whether an in-person examination is necessary should be determined by the examiner. All psychiatric disabilities found to be present should be diagnosed. The examiner must rule in or exclude a diagnosis of PTSD. The examiner must opine as to whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's psychiatric condition is related to or had its onset in service. In offering this opinion, the examiner must acknowledge and discuss the Veteran's competent lay statements of his conditions and any lay evidence regarding the onset of his disability. STEVEN D. REISS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Alvarado- 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.