Supplemental Department of Veterans Affairs                           Page 2
Statement of the Case Boise Regional Office 01/30/2004

NAME OF VETERAN VA FILE NUMBER SOCIAL SECURITY NR POA
Hugh C. Rowland 23 766 319 AMERICAN LEGION

At your personal hearing your Service Officer discussed loud noise you may have been exposed to in service. You stated that if you had ever walked around in front of a gun your head wouldn’t be here. Your Service Officer asked if you had ever been a jackhammer operator or chain saw operator and you said no, that you had been a janitor, a computer worker, a lot boy washing cars, and a tow truck driver.
Service connection for hearing loss remains denied as the personal testimony at the hearing does not establish that it was incurred in or aggravated by your military service.

2. Service connection for tinnitus.

At the personal hearing you testified that you have ringing in your ears all the time Your Wife stated that you have mentioned it to her all the time. Your Service Officer stated that you may have been exposed to the noise of a firing battery and that acoustic trauma causes tinnitus.
Service connection was previously denied for tinnitus because the VAMC audiologist determined that while you do have tinnitus it is not related to noise exposure in service. The testimony at the hearing only related to established facts: that you have tinnitus now and that you were exposed to noise in the military. Since this does not change the facts upon which the audiologist based her opinion, service connection for tinnitus remains denied.

3. Service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder.

You submitted a statement from Terry Tippery, a Clinical Social Worker employed at the Vet Center. We also reviewed your Vet Center treatment records. It is Mr. Tippery’s opinion that you do have posttraumatic stress disorder and the treatment records from the Vet Center also contain the PTSD diagnosis. Mr. Tippery referred you for evaluation to William A Carroll Ph.D. for evaluation. The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder is not contained in the report of that evaluation. You underwent psychiatric evaluation with Dr. Khatain on October 7, 2003. Dr. Khatain recorded a diagnosis of Anxiety and “likely has PTSD if what he reports he experienced was what he actually went thru (sic)”. Because Dr. Khatain suggested that he believed you do have PTSD we ordered an examination with a board of 3 psychiatrists/psychologists to determine your correct mental health diagnosis.

In the meantime a personal hearing was held on your behalf. Your Service Officer contended that the photographs you submitted established that you engaged in combat and declared his belief that you have posttraumatic stress disorder and that it should be rated 70%. Your counselor, Terry Tippery was also present at the hearing and presented his PTSD assessment. Mr. Tippery also declared that he believes that you meet the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD.

We received and reviewed your records from the Social Security Administration. They do not contain any mental health evaluations or mention PTSD or any other mental disability.