92 Decision Citation: BVA 92-12508 Y92 BOARD OF VETERANS' APPEALS WASHINGTON, D.C. 20420 Sitting at Seattle, Washington DOCKET NO. 91-22 551 ) DATE ) ) ) THE ISSUE Service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans WITNESSES AT HEARING ON APPEAL Appellant and appellant's father and mother ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Elving L. Torres, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from February 1974 to January 1976. This matter came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (the Board) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from a decision of the Seattle, Washington Regional Office (VARO) in October 1990, which denied appellant's claim filed in June 1990. Appellant was notified of that decision in November 1990. The notice of disagreement was received at VARO in October 1990. The statement of the case was issued in December 1990. The appeal to the Board was received at VARO in January 1991. A hearing was held before a Travel Section of the Board, sitting in Seattle, Washington in May 1991. The case was received at the Board in May 1991. Appellant has been represented throughout this appeal by Disabled American Veterans. The Board requested a medical opinion in November 1991. The opinion from a VA Chief Medical Director was prepared in February 1992 and sent to the Board. CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL Appellant contends that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of "relentless harassment and persecution" that he experienced in service. He described an incident in which he was physically restrained and forced to lay on the shower room floor, was stripped naked, and was scrubbed with a toilet brush by other soldiers. He avers that he became very suspicious and acutely paranoid due primarily from the abusive mistreatment and torture suffered while at the correctional custody facility in service. DECISION OF THE BOARD For the reasons and bases hereinafter set forth, it is the decision of the Board that the preponderance of the evidence is in favor of appellant's claim for a grant of service connection for PTSD. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. Appellant served under honorable conditions from February 1974 to January 1976. 2. Appellant suffers from PTSD attributable to a stressor, consisting of an attack on his person during military service. CONCLUSION OF LAW Appellant's post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was incurred in peacetime service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Board has found that appellant's claim is well grounded within the meaning of 38 U.S.C. § 5107(a) (1992). Moore v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 401, 405 (1991). The Board is also satisfied that all relevant facts have been properly developed. We find that the record before us is adequate for appellate consideration. During the personal hearing before the members of the Travel Section of the Board, appellant withdrew the claim for service connection for a personality disorder. Thus, the only issue appropriately on appeal is entitlement to service connection for PTSD. Appellant served on active duty from February 1974 to January 1976. While in service in August or September 1975, he went absent without leave allegedly because he felt that his new NCOIC and CO were harrassing him. He was taken to the Correctional Custody Facility where he reportedly was harrassed and beaten up. He escaped from that facility, and was later taken to the emergency room at Madigan Army Medical Center. At that time, he was agitated, crying, and complaining of being hurt. On physical examination, bruises were noted. He stated that he would be harrassed and injured again if he was returned to the Correctional Custody Facility. He was subsequently discharged from service in lieu of Court Martial. His certificate of discharge was upgraded to under honorable conditions in September 1977. In an application for compensation benefits in December 1976, appellant reported he had severe and continuous anxiety and feelings of withdrawal and being "unworthy" due to excessive verbal and subsequently physical abuse in September 1975. Private social workers reported in June and August 1990 that appellant had a provisional diagnosis of PTSD associated with incarceration and treatment at a Correctional Custody Facility in service. During a VA social and industrial survey in August 1990, appellant reported that, in service, he was jailed, severely beaten and tortured, being stripped, whipped, and bashed with a toilet bowl brush until his pores bled. He claimed that he had held 40-45 different jobs after service. He had not worked since 1987, when he apparently received disability insurance benefits from the Social Security Administration for PTSD. The social worker reported that, based on appellant's report, he appeared to have been clearly traumatized. A VA psychiatric examiner reported in August 1990 that it was difficult to decide whether appellant suffered from PTSD. The examiner further stated that what appellant described as having ocurred in service would certainly be a traumatic experience. It was noted that the reported bruises at the time of appellant's admission to the Army Hospital in September 1975 tend to corroborate his story. The examiner was of the opinion that appellant was probably traumatized by that episode in service. Inasmuch as there was a question as to whether appellant does suffer from PTSD as a result of the reported traumatic event in service, a medical expert opinion was requested by the Board. In February 1992, the Director of the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service of a VA Medical Center reported, after reviewing the entire evidence of record and the testimony at the personal hearing in May 1991, that the diagnosis of PTSD was supported by the record. The medical expert was of the opinion that appellant's symptoms and patterns of living were typically seen in PTSD, and that the content relates to the attack in September 1975--the symptoms, their persistence, and the focus on the original trauma establish a connection to that trauma. On the basis of the above discussed evidentiary record, the Board finds that the preponderance of the evidence is in favor of appellant's report of the traumatic event in service and his claim that his PTSD, which has been confirmed, is the result of that stressor that ocurred in service. Accordingly, service connection for PTSD is warranted. ORDER Upon consideration of the foregoing, it is ORDERED that service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder is granted. BOARD OF VETERANS' APPEALS WASHINGTON, D.C. 20420 * (Member temporarily absent) JEFFREY J. MARTIN KENNETH R. ANDREWS, JR. *38 U.S.C. § 7102 (1992) permits a Board of Veterans' Appeals Section, upon direction of the Chairman of the Board, to proceed with the transaction of business without awaiting assignment of an additional Member to the Section when the Section is composed of fewer than three Members due to absence of a Member, vacancy on the Board or inability of the Member assigned to the Section to serve on the panel. The Chairman has directed that the Section proceed with the transaction of business, including the issuance of decisions, without awaiting the assignment of a third Member. NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C. § 7266 (1992), a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals granting less than the complete benefit, or benefits, sought on appeal is appealable to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals within 120 days from the date of mailing of notice of the decision, provided that a notice of disagreement concerning an issue which was before the Board was filed with the agency of original jurisdiction on or after November 18, 1988 (see § 402 of the Veterans' Judicial Review Act (Pub. L. 100-687)). The date which appears on the face of this decision constitutes the date of mailing and the copy of this decision which you have received is your notice of the action taken on your appeal by the Board of Veterans' Appeals.