BVA Case 20-8737: Ptsd

Additionally,the Board granted the appellant's request to reopen service connection for PTSD based on new and material evidence and to award a 70%rating for unspecified anxiety disorder and a TDIU rating from June 21,2017.

As with any material issue of fact or law, the Board must provide a statement of the reasons or bases for its determination adequate to enable a claimant to understand the precise basis for the Board's decision,as well as to facilitate review in this Court.

To comply with this requirement, the Board must analyze the credibility and probative value of evidence,account for evidence it finds persuasive or unpersuasive,and provide the reasons for its rejection of material evidence favorable to the claimant.

369,374 (1998)( [W]here the Board failed to provide an adequate statement of reasons or bases for its determinations,a remand is the appropriate remedy.

Reopening Service Connection for Left Finger Disability The appellant asserts that the Board provided inadequate reasons or bases for denying his request to reopen because it failed to address a 2015 lay statement and a March 1982 Report of Medical History.

In September 2010,the Board denied reopening the claim finding that the newly submitted evidence did not relate to unestablished facts necessary to substantiate the claim or raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating it.

The Board found that no evidence showed an in- service diagnosis of a left finger disability nor did the evidence suggest that a left finger disability was related to service.

Effective February 19,2019, for purposes of reopening claims the RO decided before February 19,2019, new and material evidence is defined as follows: New evidence means existing evidence not previously submitted to agency decision makers.