Citation Nr: 21007134
Decision Date: 02/08/21	Archive Date: 02/08/21

DOCKET NO. 15-04 553
DATE: February 8, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to a rating in excess of 50 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active military service with the U.S. Army from February 1967 to February 1969.  During this time, he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Combat Infantry Badge.

This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2010 rating decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In his VA Form 9, the Veteran elected to have a Board hearing; however, he revoked his request in an April 2018 Correspondence and instead opted to have the matter decided on the record.  38 C.F.R. § 20.704(e).

The matter was remanded by the Board in August 2018 for further development. Specifically, the Board found that a new VA examination should be ordered as the most recent examination was in 2012, with the Veteran’s representative indicating a worsening in the Veteran’s condition since the last VA examination.  Accordingly, the Veteran was scheduled for a VA examination in June 2019; however, he did not report for that examination. 

The Veteran’s representative asserts that the Veteran did not report for his examination because the Veteran did not receive notification of the same, noting the representative was unable to contact the Veteran at the phone number(s) listed in the Veteran’s file. See January 2021 Informal Hearing Presentation (IHP). The representative argues that that VA did not make additional efforts to contact the Veteran since there is no evidence of any notification letters for examination appointments mailed to the Veteran. Given these facts, the Board finds that a remand is necessary to schedule the Veteran for another examination. Updated VA treatment records should also be obtained on remand. 

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Obtain any additional outstanding VA treatment records for the Veteran and associate them with the claims file.  

2. With any necessary assistance from the Veteran, obtain any relevant private treatment records.

3. Then schedule the Veteran for a VA examination in the appropriate specialty to determine the current severity of his service-connected PTSD.  

 

 

S. BUSH

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	J. J. Rogers, 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.