Citation Nr: 21026312 Decision Date: 04/30/21 Archive Date: 04/30/21 DOCKET NO. 19-05 872A DATE: April 30, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to special monthly compensation (SMC) at the “s” rate is granted, effective November 18, 2020. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran’s service-connected acquired psychiatric disorder unspecified depression causes the Veteran to be likely be precluded from substantial and gainful employment and therefore has a total disability rating based on a single disability. 2. The Veteran has a total rating for the acquired psychiatric disorder unspecified depression along with remaining service-connected disabilities combining to 60 percent or higher as of November 18, 2020. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria are met for SMC starting from November 18, 2020. 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s); 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(i). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from January 1966 to December 1967. This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2016 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned in August 2019. The transcript is of record. The Board remanded the claim on appeal in April 2020. The Veteran’s claims folder has returned to the Board for further appellate consideration. In April 2020, the Board also remanded claims of service connection for a bilateral knee disability, a bilateral foot disability, a bilateral ankle disability, an acquired psychiatric disorder, and a total disability rating due to individual unemployability (TDIU). In a subsequent rating decision dated December 2020, the acquired psychiatric disorder claim was granted. Also, in a January 2021 rating decision, the bilateral foot, bilateral ankle, bilateral knee, and TDIU claims were granted. In view of the foregoing, these issues have been resolved and are no longer before the Board. See generally Grantham v. Brown, 114 F.3d 116 (Fed. Cir. 1997). SMC The Veteran is in receipt of a TDIU based on his service-connected acquired psychiatric disorder unspecified depression and bilateral peripheral vascular disease. After review of the evidence, the Board finds he is entitled to SMC at the housebound rate starting from November 18, 2020, which is the effective date of the assignment of a 70 percent rating for the acquired psychiatric disorders along with other service-connected disabilities combining to a rating of at least 60 percent. The Court has held that VA has a “well-established” duty to maximize a veteran’s benefits. Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 250 (2011); AB v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 35, 38 (1993); see also Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280 (2008). This duty to maximize benefits requires VA to assess all of a veteran’s disabilities to determine whether any combination of disabilities establishes entitlement SMC under 38 U.S.C. § 1114. See Bradley, 22 Vet. App. 280, 294 (2008) (finding that SMC “benefits are to be accorded when a Veteran becomes eligible without need for a separate claim”). SMC is payable at the “s” rate (also referred to as the “housebound (HB) rate”) where the veteran has a single service-connected disability rated as 100 percent disabling and, in addition: (1) has a service-connected disability or disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct from the 100 percent service-connected disability, and involving different anatomical segments or bodily systems, or (2) is permanently HB by reason of service-connected disability or disabilities. 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s); 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(i). A “single service-connected disability rated as total” under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s) is not limited to cases where a 100 percent rating has been assigned via the application of one or more diagnostic codes in the rating schedule; rather, entitlement to TDIU may serve as the “total” rating for the purposes of SMC at the “s” rate if the TDIU is predicated upon a single disability. Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280 (2009). In a December 2020 rating decision, the rating for the service-connected acquired psychiatric disorder was increased from 30 percent to 70 percent effective November 18, 2020. During the November 2020 VA examination, the examiner indicated that the Veteran’s psychiatric symptoms included panic attacks more than once per week, mild memory loss, difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships, and difficulty adapting to stressful circumstances including work. His MSE was positive for mild issues with concentration, and moderate issues with memory. The Board concludes that these symptoms probably would preclude employment regardless of the impact of his other service-connected disabilities. Thus, the Veteran could be awarded a TDIU based solely his acquired psychiatric disorder’s impact on his employment effective November 18, 2020. In addition to his acquired psychiatric disorder unspecified depression, the Veteran is also service connected for the following disabilities: peripheral vascular disease of the right and let lower extremities (each rated 60 percent), scars status post scrotum sac excision associated with loss of scrotum sac with scar and erectile dysfunction (10 percent), right and left knee strain (each rated 10 percent), right and left ankle strain (each rated 10 percent), loss of scrotum sac with scar and erectile dysfunction (noncompensable), abdominal scar status post femoral popliteal bypass surgery (noncompensable), and bilateral plantar fasciitis (noncompensable). These remaining disabilities combine to more than 60 percent. Accordingly, as of November 18, 2020 when the Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disorder unspecified depression alone likely caused unemployability, the Veteran is entitled to SMC at the “s” rate. S. HENEKS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Nadia Kamal, 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.