BVA9500054 
DOCKET NO.  93-08 798     )       DATE
          )
          )

On appeal from the decision of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in New Orleans,
Louisiana

THE ISSUE

Entitlement to a total rating for compensation purposes based on
individual unemployability under the provisions of 38 C.F.R.
§ 4.16(c) (1993).

REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by: Veterans of Foreign Wars of the
United States

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

A. D. Jackson, Associate Counsel

INTRODUCTION

The veteran had active duty from June 1971 to February 1973.

This matter came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on
appeal from a rating decision from the New Orleans, Louisiana,
Regional Office (RO).  A rating decision dated in November 1991
denied entitlement to a total rating for compensation purposes
based on individual unemployability.

REMAND

The veteran contends that he is precluded from performing any
substantially gainful employment due to his service-connected
psychiatric disability.  He points out that he is currently
taking psychotropic medication and has been unemployed since
1973.

In reviewing the record, the Board notes that the veteran has
undergone multiple Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
hospitalizations for his service-connected psychiatric
disability.  Most recently, the record reveals the veteran was
hospitalized for his schizophrenia in August and September 1991.
Although, a VA examiner opined that the veteran was unemployable,
the reports of that hospitalization do not provide a
comprehensive picture as to the current nature and extent of the
veteran's psychiatric disability.  Additionally, the veteran has
not undergone a formal Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA)
psychiatric examination for a number of years.  As the Board's
"fulfillment of the statutory duty to assist...includes the
conduct of a thorough and contemporaneous medical examination,
one that takes into account the records of prior medical
treatment, so that the evaluation of the claimed disability will
be a fully informed one," Green v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 121
(1991), we are requesting further development.

The veteran also has indicated in the past years that he receives
benefits from the Social Security Administration.  Such records
are necessary for the proper adjudication of his claim.  To
ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has met its
duty to assist the claimant in developing the facts pertinent to
the claim and to ensure full compliance with due process
requirements, the case is REMANDED to the regional office (RO)
for the following developments:

1.  The RO should obtain from the Social
Security Administration the records pertinent
to the appellant's claim for Social Security
disability benefits as well as the medical
records relied upon concerning that claim.

2.  The veteran should be afforded a VA
social and industrial survey to assess the
veteran's employment history and day-to-day
functioning, as well as his prospects for
gainful employment, as such prospects would
be impacted upon by his service connected
psychiatric disability.  A written copy of
the report should be inserted into the claims
folder.

3.  The RO should schedule the veteran for a
psychiatric examination.  The examination be
conducted in accordance with the diagnostic
procedures outlined in the Physician's Guide
to Disability Evaluation Examinations.  The
examiner must also be requested to comment on
the veteran's work capacity in the light of
his disabilities.  The psychiatrist should
offer an assessment based on the Global
Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF).  The
claims file should be made available to the
examiner prior to the examination.

4.  After the development requested above has
been completed to the extent possible, the RO
should again review the record.  If any
benefit sought on appeal, for which a notice
of disagreement has been filed, remains
denied, the appellant and representative
should be furnished a supplemental statement
of the case and given the opportunity to
respond thereto.

Thereafter, the case should be returned to the Board, if in
order.  The Board intimates no opinion as to the ultimate outcome
of this case.  The appellant need take no action unless otherwise
notified.

          JEFF MARTIN
          Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals

The Board of Veterans' Appeals Administrative Procedures
Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-271, § 6, 108 Stat. 740, ___
(1994), permits a proceeding instituted before the Board to be
assigned to an individual member of the Board for a
determination.  This proceeding has been assigned to an
individual member of the Board.

Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 1991), only a decision of the
Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States
Court of Veterans Appeals.  This remand is in the nature of a
preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board
on the merits of your appeal.  38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (1993).