Citation Nr: 21007689 Decision Date: 02/10/21 Archive Date: 02/10/21 DOCKET NO. 17-20 942 DATE: February 10, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 50 percent for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from October 1970 to October 1972. This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal of an August 2014 rating decision of a Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In October 2020, the Veteran testified in a hearing before the undersigned. A transcript of the hearing is in the file. The record was held open for 60 days to allow the Veteran to submit a VA Form 21-8940 (Veteran’s Application for Increased Compensation Based on Unemployability) and updated VA treatment records. The Veteran has submitted a completed VA Form 21-8940, but has not submitted updated treatment records. 1. Entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 50% for PTSD is remanded. The Veteran’s most recent VA PTSD examination was in July 2014. However, the Veteran testified at the October 2020 hearing that his medications have been increased and he has hit people, which is suggestive of an increase in symptoms since the last examination. He also testified that he is unemployed due to his PTSD. Thus, a new examination should be conducted on remand. [The Board notes that December 2020 correspondence and other documentation from the RO suggests that the Veteran is currently scheduled for a VA examination to assess the severity of his PTSD disability and to provide an opinion as to how the Veteran’s service-connected disabilities impact his ability to function.] The Veteran also testified that he is seen weekly by his VA counselor/social worker. However, the most recent VA treatment note in the record is dated March 2017. Upon remand development of updated VA treatment records is warranted. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain and associate with the claims file all outstanding VA and private treatment records relevant to PTSD, to include VA treatment records dated since March 2017 to include mental health treatment at the VA facility in Yuba City, California. 2. After the above development is completed, unless an examination to assess the severity of the Veteran’s PTSD and his functional impairment due to PTSD has been developed since December 2020, schedule the Veteran for an appropriate VA examination. The claims folder should be made available to the examiner. The examiner is requested to: (a.) Determine the nature, extent, and severity of his service-connected PTSD. The examiner is requested to delineate all symptomatology associated with, and the current severity of, the service-connected PTSD disability.; and (b.) Describe the functional impairment due to the Veteran’s PTSD, including in an occupational environment. Please provide a full description of the manner and extent to which the Veteran’s service-connected PTSD disability, considered alone, impairs functions related to employment. 3. Thereafter, the claim should be readjudicated to include adjudication of TDIU. M. C. GRAHAM Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Sowden, 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.