BVA Case 93-1111: Depression

A February 2, 1988, VA letter, notifying the veteran that her appeal period had expired and that new and material evidence was needed to reopen her claim, was sent to her at the Washington, D.

A March 1990 RO decision confirmed and continued the May 1983 denial of service connection for a nervous condition, concluding that these records did not constitute new and material evidence.

The Board found that the evidence submitted since the last denial in February 1988 was new and material and that, when considered with evidence previously of record, reasonably established that the disorder had its onset during service.

In the September 1993 Board decision here on appeal, the Board denied entitlement to an effective date prior to February 1, 1989, for the award of service connection for schizophrenia, paranoid type.

The Board found that the RO denials of service connection for a psychiatric disorder in May 1983, February 1985, and February 1988 were final, and that the veteran had been notified of each decision at her latest address of record, but that she had not filed or completed timely appeals from any of these decision.

The Board concluded that there had been no showing of CUE in any of these RO decisions, and that the effective date for the current 100% rating was the date of receipt of the claim to reopen.

She contends that when the RO previously decided her case, it did not consider all the evidence then of record.

To comply with this requirement, the Board's statement of reasons or bases must account for the evidence which it finds to be persuasive or unpersuasive, analyze the credibility and probative value of all material evidence submitted by and on behalf of a claimant, and provide the reasons for its rejection of any such evidence.