Citation Nr: 18160568
Decision Date: 12/27/18	Archive Date: 12/27/18

DOCKET NO. 16-60 923
DATE:	December 27, 2018
REMANDED
The issue of service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Request that the Veteran provide the names and addresses of all health care providers who provided treatment for PTSD disability including from the VA clinic in Hickory, North Carolina, which were not before an October 2014 VA examiner. After acquiring this information and obtaining any necessary authorization, obtain and associate any pertinent records with the claims file or e-folder that have not been previously obtained. 
2. After all available records have been associated with the e-folder, return the file to the physician who conducted the October 2014 VA examination, if the examiner is available. ((38 C.F.R. § 4.125(a) provides that if diagnosis does not conform to DSM, file is to be returned to the examiner)). 
If the October 2014 VA examiner is not available, have the file examined by a suitably-qualified mental disorders examiner, who may determine if further clinical evaluation is necessary to respond to the Board’s inquiry as to whether the Veteran has a mental disorder caused by military service, including but not limited to PTSD.
3. The physician must review all clinical evidence in the record, to include all obtained since the October 2014 examination and report whether the Veteran has PTSD or any other mental disorder because of military service. The examiner is requested to note:
(a.) The Veteran’s VA medical records indicate that the Veteran is being treated for PTSD; 
(b.) The Veteran’s VA medical records indicate that since 2014, the Veteran participates in the one hour bi-monthly PTSD Group for Vietnam Veterans at the Hickory VA Clinic in Asheville, NC.; 
(c.) In a May 2014 statement, the Veteran stated that in January 1971 a fellow service member was shot and killed beside him while the pair were on guard duty together. 
4. Thereafter, and after undertaking any additional development deemed necessary, readjudicate the issue on appeal. If the benefit sought on appeal remains denied, the Veteran and his representative must be provided with a Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC) and be afforded reasonable opportunity to respond. The case should then be returned to the Board for further appellate review, if otherwise in order.
 
Vito A. Clementi 
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	T. T. Emmart, Associate Counsel

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