Citation Nr: 21042712
Decision Date: 07/13/21	Archive Date: 07/13/21

DOCKET NO. 16-18 808
DATE: July 13, 2021

REMAND

Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 50 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is remanded. 

REASON FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from June 2008 to June 2009 and October 2009 to January 2011. He also had a period of active duty for training (ACDUTRA) from January 2007 to May 2007.

This matter is on appeal to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from an August 2015 rating decision of the regional office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In January 2020, the Board remanded this case for further development. Specifically, the Board noted that the Veteran had failed to report for his previously scheduled VA examination and found that he should be afforded another opportunity to attend a VA examination to determine the current level of severity of his PTSD. In remanding for this VA examination, the Board also requested that the RO obtain any outstanding VA treatment records since February 2016. 

The requested VA examination was obtained in February 2020; however, no attempts were made by the RO to obtain the Veteran's updated VA treatment records. 

The Board cannot conclude that failure to request, obtain, and consider such records is a harmless error. See Shinseki v. Sanders, 556 U.S. 396, 406 (2009) (requiring VA errors to be evaluated using the "harmless error rule"). Accordingly, further development is necessary to substantially comply with the prior remand directive to obtain any outstanding VA medical records. See 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(c); Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). 

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain and associate with the claims file updated VA treatment records from February 2016. All development with respect to this directive must be documented in the claims file. If no records are available, then issue a formal finding of unavailability.

 

 

KELLI A. KORDICH

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	D. Hite, 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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.