BVA9505234 
DOCKET NO.  93-14 461     )       DATE
          )
          )

On appeal from the decision of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Louisville,
Kentucky

THE ISSUE

Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the veteran's
death.

REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Robert E. O'Brien, Counsel

REMAND

The appellant is the widow of the veteran who had active service
from October 1942 to November 1945.

At the time of the veteran's death in March 1992, service
connection was in effect for anxiety reaction with associated
tachycardia, rated as 10 percent disabling, and asthma, rated as
noncompensably disabling.  The death certificate reveals the
immediate cause of death was acute intracranial hemorrhage of
five days' duration.  The death certificate listed conditions
contributing to death, but not resulting in the underlying cause,
as anxiety neurosis and coronary artery disease.  An autopsy was
not performed.  The certifier of the death certificate was
Richard Blalock, M.D., 300 S. 8th Street, Suite 302, Murray,
Kentucky 42071.  In her substantive appeal, the appellant
indicated that Dr. Blalock told her the veteran's anxiety
neurosis and asthma "were indeed causes that led to
cardiovascular and hypertension diseses (sic) and were causes of
death."  No communication from Dr. Blalock are of record.

The Board notes that other than the discharge summary pertaining
to the veteran's terminal hospitalization in March 1992, there is
no medical evidence regarding any problems the veteran might have
been experiencing for years preceding his death.  VA has a duty
to assist in the development of facts pertinent to a claim.
38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a) (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. § 3.103(a) (1994).
The United States Court of Veterans Appeals (Court) has held that
the duty to assist includes obtaining available records which are
relevant to an individual's appeal.

In view of the foregoing, the Board believes that additional
development is desirable and the case is REMANDED to the RO for
the following action:

The RO should contact the appellant and
request that she provide the names and
addresses of all health care providers who
treated the veteran in the years preceding
his death.  Then, after any necessary
authorization is obtained from the
appellant, the RO should obtain copies of
any treatment records identified by her.
Of particular interest are records from
Richard E. Blalock, M.D., at the address
cited above.  Dr. Blalock should be asked
to provide his opinion as to whether or not
the veteran's anxiety neurosis was a
contributing cause in his death.  Dr.
Blalock should also be requested to provide
a rationale for his opinion.

Following completion of the foregoing, the RO should readjudicate
the appellant's claim.  Thereafter, if the claim is not granted
to the appellant's satisfaction, she and her representative
should be furnished with a supplemental statement of the case.
They should then be afforded the applicable time period in which
to respond.  The case should then be returned to the Board for
further consideration, if otherwise in order.  By this REMAND,
the Board intimates no opinion as to any final outcome warranted.
No action is required of the appellant until she is notified by
the RO.

          GARY L. GICK
          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 deter-
mination.  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 action has been taken in
accordance with the Veterans' Benefits Improvements Act of 1994,
Pub. L. No. 103-446, § 303, 108 Stat. 4645, ___ (1994), and 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) (1994).