BVA9506182 DOCKET NO. 93-15 619 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Wichita, Kansas THE ISSUE Entitlement to an increased rating for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), currently rated 10 percent disabling. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL Appellant REMAND The veteran had active duty from October 1968 to November 1971. Service connection was granted for PTSD in a July 1992 rating decision which also assigned a 10 percent rating and listed "poly-substance abuse" as not service-connected. The veteran has disagreed with the rating and, in his July 1993 hearing before the undersigned, raised the issues of service connection for substance abuse (to include all forms of substance abuse diagnosed on the discharge summary related to his VA hospitalization from December 1991 to March 1992) and a total disability rating based on unemployability. The discharge summary described above assigned a global assessment of functioning score of 35. A VA examiner in April 1992 assigned a global assessment of functioning score of 40, and a social worker described the veteran’s social and economic incapacitation as "serious". Neither the discharge summary nor the VA examination differentiates the impairment due to PTSD from that due to other causes. Moreover, during the VA examination the veteran indicated he was to be rehospitalized in September 1992 for further PTSD treatment. These circumstances require further development and adjudication. To ensure that VA has met its duty to assist the appellant in developing the facts pertinent to the claim, the case is REMANDED to the RO for the following development: 1. The RO should obtain the names and addresses of all medical care providers who treated the veteran for PTSD since his April 1992 examination. After securing the necessary release, the RO should obtain these records, as well as all pertinent VA inpatient and outpatient records. 2. The veteran should be afforded a VA psychiatric examination to determine the severity of his PTSD. The examiner must assign a Global Assessment of Functioning Score consistent with the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. 1987), and explain what the assigned score represents. In addition, the examiner should offer an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not that one or more of the veteran’s substance abuse disorders are the result of his PTSD. If not, the examiner should differentiate the effect of PTSD on the veteran’s social and industrial adaptability from that of his substance abuse disorders or other psychiatric diagnoses. A complete rationale for any opinion expressed must be provided. The claims folder should be made available to the examiner for review before the examination. 3. The RO should then readjudicate the issue of an increased rating, and adjudicate the issues of service connection for substance abuse disorders and a total rating based on unemployability, including any further development indicated. 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. J. E. DAY 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).