Citation Nr: 21024058 Decision Date: 04/22/21 Archive Date: 04/22/21 DOCKET NO. 15-25 427 DATE: April 22, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to an initial disability rating in excess of 30 percent prior to August 7, 2019 and excess of 70 percent thereafter for service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with alcohol and drug abuse is remanded. Entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) prior to August 7, 2019 is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from May 1975 to May 1977. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a January 2013 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ). The Veteran testified before the undersigned at an April 2019 Board hearing. A transcript of the hearing is of record. The Board remanded this matter to the AOJ for additional development in July 2019. Following development on remand, the AOJ granted a 70 percent disability rating for Veteran’s service-connected PTSD and entitlement to a TDIU effective August 7, 2019. See April 2020 rating decision. However, these issues remain on appeal and before the Board as this action does not constitute a full grant on benefits on appeal. See AB v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 35, 38 (1993) (where a claimant has filed a notice of disagreement as to a VA Regional Office (RO) decision assigning a particular rating, a subsequent RO decision assigning a higher rating, but less than the maximum available benefit, does not abrogate the pending appeal). 1. Entitlement to an initial disability rating in excess of 30 percent prior to August 7, 2019 and in excess of 70 percent thereafter, for service-connected PTSD with alcohol and drug abuse. The Veteran contends that his service-connected disability is more severe than initially rated. As noted above, the Veteran was granted a 70 percent disability rating effective August 7, 2019. The effective date was based on an August 2019 VA psychiatric examination. The record contains VA treatment records from November 2020. Since those treatment records have been entered into the record it appears the Veteran has received relevant care at a VA facility. Notably, the record indicates that the Veteran was hospitalized at a VA psychiatric medical facility. In February 2021, the Veteran’s sister reported the Veteran had been hospitalized since January 2021 at the Atlanta VAMC. In February 2021, the record indicates the AOJ contacted the Veteran at the Atlanta VAMC while he was in inpatient care, as well as the psychiatric providers at the Atlanta VAMC. See also January 2021 AOJ rating decision (finding that the Veteran was not competent to handle the disbursement of funds without limitation effective January 28, 2021). The Board finds that VA failed to obtain the Veteran’s updated VA medical records related to the Veteran’s psychiatric disability since November 2020. Therefore, a remand is required to obtain those records as they appear relevant to the instant appeal. 2. Entitlement to a TDIU prior to August 7, 2019 The Veteran claims entitlement to a TDIU prior to August 7, 2019. Consideration of entitlement to TDIU is dependent upon the impact of service-connected disabilities on a Veteran’s ability to obtain or retain substantially gainful employment. The matter of TDIU is therefore inextricably intertwined with the currently pending claims discussed above. Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180 (1991). Remand of the inextricably intertwined TDIU claim is therefore required as well. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain the Veteran’s VA treatment records for the period from November 2020 to the present from the Atlanta VAMC. If there is an indication that other VA and/or relevant private treatment records are also outstanding for this time period, those records should be obtained as well. S. L. Kennedy Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Robert Batten 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.