Citation Nr: 21026271
Decision Date: 04/30/21	Archive Date: 04/30/21

DOCKET NO. 17-44 245
DATE: April 30, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to an initial compensable disability rating for traumatic brain injury (TBI) is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty in the Army from September 2004 to January 2008.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2016 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Seattle, Washington (Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ)).

The Veteran and his wife testified at a virtual hearing before the undersigned in January 2021. A transcript of the proceeding is of record.

1. Entitlement to an initial compensable disability rating for TBI is remanded.

The Veteran testified during his January 2021 virtual hearing that he feels the neurocognitive psychological evaluation assessing his TBI in March 2019 does not adequately address how his symptoms currently affect him on a day-to-day basis. Indeed, his wife agreed that his symptoms have worsened in the eleven years that they have been together. At the hearing, the undersigned Veterans’ Law Judge (VLJ) agreed to order a new examination for the Veteran’s TBI; to that end, the Board will remand for such an examination. 

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Associate with the claims folder updated treatment records.

2. Afford the Veteran an examination to determine the current nature and severity of his TBI. The examiner should consider the following evidence:

•	the January 2021 testimony from the Veteran and his wife;

•	the March 2019 neurocognitive psychological evaluation; and

•	the October 2016 VA examination for TBI and the June 2015 VA examinations for TBI and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The examiner should specifically reconcile the results from the October 2016 TBI examination with the March 2019 psychological evaluation, and provide opinion as to whether there is any medical reason to accept or reject the results of either evaluation or whether the March 2019 evaluation represents an increased severity of symptoms. 

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3. Thereafter, readjudicate the claim. If any benefit sought on appeal remains denied, furnish the Veteran and his representative, if any, a supplemental statement of the case and an appropriate period of time to respond.

 

 

T. MAINELLI

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Victoria A. Banis, 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.