BVA9500034 DOCKET NO. 92-07 345 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Boise, Idaho THE ISSUE Entitlement to a total disability rating for compensation purposes due to service-connected disability under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(c) (1993). REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans WITNESS AT HEARINGS ON APPEAL Appellant ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD P. Gutstein, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from January 1967 to December 1968. This matter came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from the October 1990 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boise, Idaho, Regional Office (RO) which increased the evaluation for the veteran's service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder from 30 percent to 50 percent disabling, effective from April 1990, and denied his entitlement to a total disability rating on the basis of individual unemployability. The veteran filed a notice of disagreement from that determination in October 1990, and he was furnished a statement of the case in December 1990. He filed a substantive appeal in December 1990. He appeared at a hearing at the RO in December 1990. He appeared at another hearing before a member of the Board in April 1992. In its October 1992 decision, the Board increased the veteran's rating to 70 percent disabling and remanded the unemployability issue. By rating decision of January 1993, the RO continued to hold that the veteran was not unemployable due to service-connected disability. The veteran again appeared at a hearing before a member of this Board in April 1994. The veteran is represented in his appeal by the Disabled American Veterans which has submitted written argument in his behalf. CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL It is argued, in essence, that the veteran is unemployable due to service-connected disability. DECISION OF THE BOARD The Board, in accordance with the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104 (West 1991), has reviewed and considered all of the evidence and material of record in the veteran's claims file. Based on its review of the evidence in this matter, and for the following reasons and bases, it is the decision of the Board that the veteran is unemployable due to service-connected disability. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The veteran has severe social and industrial impairment due to his service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder. 2. His post-traumatic stress disorder prevents him from engaging in substantially gainful employment. CONCLUSION OF LAW The veteran is unemployable due to service-connected disability thus he is entitled to a 100 percent rating. 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(b) (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(c); Part 4. Diagnostic Code 9411. (1993). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Board has concluded that the veteran's service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder renders him unemployable. This determination is based upon a review of the complete evidentiary record which includes reports of VA treatment and examination, testimony of the veteran and his representative at three hearings, and other statements of the veteran and his representative in support of the claim. If the only compensable service connected disability is a mental disorder assigned a 70 percent evaluation and such mental disorder precludes a veteran from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation the mental disorder shall be assigned a 100 percent schedular evaluation under the appropriate diagnostic code. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(c). Diagnostic Code 9411 (1993) provides a 100 percent rating when post traumatic stress disorder makes the veteran demonstratly unable to obtain or retain employment. The record shows that the veteran served on active duty from January 1967 to December 1968. The evidence establishes that the veteran was in combat in Vietnam and that he developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of those combat experiences. The record further shows that the veteran officially had an eighth grade education but that actually he was unable to read or write. The record also shows that he had worked as a laborer at various times but reportedly had never been able to hold a steady job during his lifetime. His disability has been rated 30 percent disabling since August 1986 and 70 percent since April 1990, pursuant to the October 1992 decision of the Board. He has been rated incompetent since May 1987, and his funds are managed by his sister. As part of a VA examination conducted in August 1990, a social and industrial survey noted that the veteran, in addition to having post-traumatic stress disorder, also was diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder. The psychiatrist noted that on psychological testing done in July 1989, it was felt that the veteran could be employed doing assembly line work with close supportive supervision. In the opinion of the examining physician, it was felt that his post-traumatic stress disorder and extreme difficulty tolerating social contact would preclude this. The examiner expressed the opinion that the veteran was currently totally disabled due to post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and attention deficit disorder. The examiner further stated that the depression was a complication of the post-traumatic stress disorder and that the latter-related symptoms presented the majority of the veteran's struggles. In its October 1992 decision, the Board concluded that the evidence demonstrated the veteran's post-traumatic stress disorder was productive of severe social and industrial impairment. The veteran's testimony at various hearings reflects paranoid thinking with the veteran fearful of the world around him, thereby restricting himself to the confines of his trailer where he lives alone. It has been established that, aside from contact with his sister who manages his financial affairs, he has little or no contact with other members of his family or with any others except those associated with the VA for the purpose of administering him treatment either on an outpatient or inhospital basis. The Board finds no evidence to contradict the conclusion of the examining VA physician that the veteran's service-connected post- traumatic stress disorder precludes him from engaging in substantially gainful employment and that he is, indeed, unemployable due to service-connected disability. 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(b) (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(c); Part 4 Diagnostic Code 9411 (1993). ORDER Entitlement to a total disability rating due to service-connected disability under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(c) (1993) is granted. E. M. KRENZER Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals The Board of Veterans' Appeals Administrative Procedures Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-271, § 6, 108 Stat. 740, ___ (1994), permits a proceeding instituted before the Board to be assigned to an individual member of the Board for a determination. This proceeding has been assigned to an individual member of the Board. NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7266 (West 1991), 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. Veterans' Judicial Review Act, Pub. L. No. 100-687, § 402 (1988). 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.