BVA9503661 
DOCKET NO.  93-11 699     )       DATE
          )
          )

On appeal from the decision of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania

THE ISSUE

Entitlement to a total rating based on individual unemployability
due to service-connected disabilities.

REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans

WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL

Appellant

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

D. B. Weiss, Associate Counsel
REMAND

The veteran had active duty from 1949 to July 1953.

To ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has met
its duty to assist the appellant in developing the facts
pertinent to the claim, the case is REMANDED to the regional
office for the following development.

1.  The RO should obtain the names and
addresses of all medical care providers who
treated the veteran for all of his
disorders since September 1992.  After
securing the necessary release, the RO
should obtain those records.

2.  The veteran should be afforded a VA
general medical examination to determine
what, if any, impairment of industrial
capacity is associated with traumatic
diaphragmatic hernia, scar of dorsum of the
left hand, and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Any indicated diagnostic studies should be
performed.

3.  The veteran should be afforded a VA
orthopedic examination to determine what,
if any, impairment of industrial capacity
is associated with paresis of the right
upper and lower extremities, traumatic
arthritis of the left hip, and chronic low
back pain with L5 radiculopathy.  The
claims folder should be made available to
the examiner for review before the
examination.  Any indicated diagnostic
studies should be performed.

4.  The RO should schedule the veteran for
a special VA psychiatric examination to
determine the extent of industrial
incapacity caused by the veteran's anxiety
reaction.  The examiner should comment upon
the veteran's functional impairment from
anxiety reaction, by utilizing the Global
Assessment of Functioning Scale found in
the American Psychiatric Association:
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders; an explanation of the score
assigned should be provided by the
examiner.  The claims folder should be
provided to the examiner prior to the
examination.

5.  The veteran should be afforded a VA
social and industrial survey to assess his
employment history and day-to-day
functioning.  A written copy of the report
should be inserted into the claims folder.

6.  After the development requested above
has been completed to the extent possible,
the RO should again review the record.  If
the benefit sought on appeal remains
denied, the appellant and his
representative should be furnished a
supplemental statement of the case and
given the opportunity to respond.

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 until otherwise
notified.

          GEORGE R. SENYK
          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 institute

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).