IN THE CASE OF:	

		BOARD DATE:	  2 October 2008

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20080011805 


THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE:

1.  Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any).

2.  Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any).


THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant requests, in effect, that his medical records be corrected.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that his medical records contain many inaccurate statements, and he marked the incorrect statements:

	a.  Marked paragraph 1 of his Narrative Summary (NARSUM):  Two weeks into basic training they had backpack training.  He was dropped from about 10 to 12 feet off the ground and landed on his back.  His back pain did not just start, as implied in this paragraph;

	b.  Marked paragraph 2 of his NARSUM:  There was/is nothing unusual for younger siblings to be persistently bothered by their older siblings; he did not wet the bed at 12/13 years of age.  Besides having a huge family, he had lots of friends in school.  He was never expelled from school for carrying a knife or trying to use the knife on another student.  He dropped out of school in the ninth grade at the age of 15 years of age;

	c.  	Marked paragraph 3 of a Standard Form (SF) 513 (Consultation Sheet):  On his job before entering the Army, he did fall on two steps, but he did not hurt his back at that time.  He never wrestled at home, or at school, and he does not recall having an exercise in basic training that called for wrestling.  

	d.  Marked paragraph 3a of the SF 513:  After an exercise on the monkey bars, his shoulder started to hurt.  After leaving the service, his shoulder continued to hurt.  A small tumor was removed from his shoulder;
	e.  Marked paragraph 4 of the NARSUM:  He never injured his back at the age of eight.  He was never hit across his back with a 2x4, nor did he sustain an injury to his back from packing a sack of cotton;

	f.  Marked paragraph 5 of an unidentified medical document, dated 24 April 1967:  He was very much remorseful, even after eight years, of the accidental shooting death of his friend.  However, it did not cause him to hear voices, become self-destructive, enraged, or bad tempered enough to want to hurt someone;

	g.  Marked paragraph 6 of the unidentified medical document, dated 24 April 1967:  He was never hit in the back with a board.  He has never in his lifetime had or been treated for gonorrhea;

	h.  Marked paragraph 7 of the unidentified medical document, dated 24 April 1967:  To his knowledge, he was not placed on a psychiatric ward or given the medications thorazine and stelazine; and

	i.  Marked paragraph 8 of the unidentified medical document, dated 24 April 1967:  He was never in a car accident that hurt his back pre-service.  

3.  The applicant states that he had no idea all of these things were in his records until his records were mailed to him in February 2001.  He is reminded of the way society was during those times.  When a Negro person spoke, the white person interpreted it the only way they could understand it, which was not always what was said.  

4.  The applicant provides the NARSUM; the SF 513; and the unidentified medical document, dated 24 April 1967, in support of his application.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice.  This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant’s failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so.  While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to timely file.  In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.
2.  The applicant was inducted into the Army on 17 October 1966.  

3.  On 27 January 1967, the applicant was hospitalized in the orthopedic ward because of complaints of low back pain.  After no evidence of an organic basis for his complaints was found, he was transferred to psychiatric services for evaluation.  

4.  The applicant’s records contain the same documents he provided to the Board.  Those documents state what the applicant noted they stated (or implied by rebuttal that they stated).

5.  The applicant was diagnosed, in part, with schizophrenic reaction, chronic, paranoid type, severe, in partial remission and manifested by auditory hallucinations, feelings of loss of control, intense anxiety and depression, and periods of confusion.  The condition was found to have existed prior to service (EPTS).

6.  On 31 May 1967, the applicant was honorably discharged due to physical disability, EPTS.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant contends that he did not make the comments his medical records attributed to him; however, at this point in time, more than 40 years later, it must be presumed that the doctors/examiners entered what they heard the applicant say.  

2.  The Army has an interest in promoting the reliability of its medical records.  Alteration of a diagnosis or comments in those records after the fact may lead to fundamental questions about the veracity of the records.  The Secretary’s interest is in ensuring an orderly system in which a physician makes certain observations and records them faithfully in the medical records at the time.  It would take an extraordinary showing to alter a diagnosis or other comments indicated in a Soldier’s medical records.  The applicant has provided insufficient evidence that would warrant altering those records.


BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___XX_____  ___XX____  ____XX___  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice.  Therefore, the Board determined that the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the records of the individual concerned.



      _______XXXX______________
               CHAIRPERSON
      
I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case.

ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080011805



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080011805



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