BVA Case 23-2108: Psychiatric

The matter returned to the Board, but in August 2022,the Board determined that another remand was warranted for the RO to attempt to obtain outstanding treatment records.

On February 24,2023, the Board denied entitlement to disability compensation for a lumbar spine disability.

He asserts that the Board previously found those reports credible,but the Board failed to provide him with advanced notice and an opportunity to respond before reversing course.

Next,the appellant contends that the Board provided inadequate reasons or bases for impugning his credibility and relied on its own unsubstantiated medical opinion in doing so.

Further,he avers,had the Board found him credible,it may have found the June and October 2022 VA examiners' opinions inadequate because both examiners failed to support their opinions with an adequate rationale,erroneously based their opinions on the lack of corroborating treatment records,and failed to account for his full medical history,specifically his lay report of pain in service and continuous pain since service.

The Secretary counters that the Board did not make a final assessment of the appellant's credibility in the October 2021 remand or implicitly find the appellant's reports incredible in the 4 decision on appeal.

In his reply brief,the appellant asserts that the Secretary conflates the Board's weighing of the evidence as it relates to nexus with the Board's finding of no in-service incurrence,which was based in part on the Board finding the appellant's report of in-service back pain not credible.

He contends that had the Board found him credible in his assertions that he experienced back pain during service,the Board would have had to find that the second element of service connection � an in-service injury � had been met.