Citation Nr: 21009242
Decision Date: 02/22/21	Archive Date: 02/22/21

DOCKET NO. 14-43 941
DATE:           February 22, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include anxiety disorder, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from February 1971 to April 1972. 

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2013 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. 

This matter was previously remanded by the Board in June 2018 and November 2020 for further development. 

Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include anxiety disorder, is remanded.

The Board regrets the additional delay in rendering a decision on this claim, but finds that another remand is warranted to ensure compliance with its prior remand directives.  See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998) (holding that a remand by the Board confers upon the Veteran, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with its remand instructions, and imposes upon VA a concomitant duty to insure compliance with the terms of the remand).  In its November 2020 remand, the Board instructed the agency of original jurisdiction to obtain translations of records in the file that are in Spanish and have not yet been translated.  That has not been accomplished.   In this regard, the service treatment records include a February 1971 report of medical history that is in Spanish.  There is also July 2019 written correspondence by the Veteran that has not been translated.  These documents must be translated into English. 

On remand, the Veteran should be given another opportunity to authorize the release of records from the private psychiatrist whom he states treated him beginning around 1980.  See November 2020 Board Remand.  He should also be invited to submit these records himself.  In the notification letter sent to the Veteran toward that end, this request should be bolded and set forth at the top of the letter.  (In the November 2020 letter sent to the Veteran, the request is found in the third bullet point, and is not bolded, raising a reasonable possibility that the Veteran did not see it.)  

Accordingly, the matter is REMANDED for the following action:

1. Obtain any recent outstanding VA treatment records pertaining to the Veteran.

2. Obtain translations from Spanish into English of the February 1971 report of medical history (found in the service treatment records) and the Veteran’s July 2019 written correspondence.  

3. Request the Veteran to authorize the release of the records of the private psychiatrist who treated him since around 1980.  The request for these specific records should be bolded and set forth at the top of the letter.  He should also be invited to submit these records himself.  Appropriate efforts should be made to obtain these records if he has properly filled out and returned the necessary release form.  

 

 

J. Rutkin

Acting Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Gonzalez, Damian

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.