Citation Nr: 21040719 Decision Date: 07/06/21 Archive Date: 07/06/21 DOCKET NO. 14-43 167 DATE: July 6, 2021 REMANDED Service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is remanded. A total disability rating based on individual unemployability as the result of service-connected disability (TDIU) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from January 1991 to April 1991. This matter initially came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2012 rating decision of the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ). The Veteran participated in a hearing before the undersigned in April 2019, and a transcript of this hearing has been associated with the record. In October 2019, the Board remanded the issues of entitlement to service connection for a bilateral shoulder disability and a bilateral foot disability. In July 2020, the AOJ granted service connection for these disabilities. The Board will not further consider these claims for service connection because the AOJ's July 2020 rating decision granted the claims in full. See Grantham v. Brown, 114 F.3d 1156, 1158 (Fed. Cir. 1997). The Board additionally denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability in October 2019. The Veteran appealed this decision, and the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court), pursuant to a January 2021 Joint Motion for Partial Remand (Joint Motion), vacated the Board's October 2019 decision to the extent it denied service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability and remanded the matter to the Board for further development. The Court found that Board's October 2019 decision erred by relying on the inadequate findings of a March 2017 examination report. The Court noted that while the March 2017 examiner diagnosed the Veteran with both a mood disorder and a trauma- and stressor-related disorder, the examiner only offered an etiological opinion regarding the Veteran's trauma- and stressor-related disorder. The Court observed that the examiner did not explain the conclusion that only the Veteran's non-service-related stressors related to her diagnosed psychiatric disabilities. Accordingly, an additional psychiatric examination is required in order to address these deficiencies and adequately assess the nature and etiology of the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability. In October 2019, the Board remanded the issue of entitlement to a TDIU, and, for clarity, it will do so again both because the AOJ has not yet issued a supplemental statement of the case as to this issue, and because adjudication of this issue is inextricably intertwined with the additional development of the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Afford the Veteran with an additional examination addressing the nature and etiology of her acquired psychiatric disability, to include a mood disorder, a trauma- and stressor-related disorder, and PTSD. After reviewing the claims file and considering the Veteran's lay contentions regarding her in-service stressors, the examiner should opine whether it at least as likely as not (that is, a 50 percent or greater probability) that any of the Veteran's diagnosed psychiatric disabilities, to include a mood disorder, a trauma- and stressor-related disorder, and PTSD, had its onset in service or is otherwise etiologically related to active service. Additionally, pursuant to the Court's January 2021 Joint Motion, the examiner should consider whether the Veteran's service-related stressors relate to any of her diagnosed psychiatric disabilities. It is insufficient to simply note that the Veteran's psychiatric symptoms relate also to non-service-related stressors. MICHAEL A. HERMAN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board J.A. Flynn, 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.