BVA9504376 
DOCKET NO.  93-03 112     )       DATE
          )
          )

On appeal from the decision of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Columbia, South
Carolina

THE ISSUE

Entitlement to a permanent and total disability rating for
pension purposes.

REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

James A. Pritchett,  Associate Counsel

INTRODUCTION

The veteran served on active duty from February 1972 to February
1974.

This appeal arises from a December 1991 decision by the Columbia,
South Carolina, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional
Office (RO) that denied entitlement to a total disability rating
for pension purposes.

REMAND

The veteran has submitted statements dated in 1989 and 1991 from
Pope M. Lee, M.D., some of which indicate that the veteran is
unable to work due to physical disabilities.  The RO has not
requested the treatment or examination records upon which Dr. Lee
based his opinions.  The latest rating decision, dated in January
1993, indicates that an examination was being scheduled in five
or six months to evaluate the veteran's left knee after
convalescence from surgery performed in December 1992.  The
veteran claims an anxiety disorder but the rating decisions have
failed to state whether such a disorder exists, and if it does,
to assign a diagnostic code and evaluation to it.

Since the veteran's claim is well grounded, the VA has a duty to
assist in the development of facts pertinent to his claim.  38
U.S.C.A. § 5107 (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. § 3.103 (1994).
Accordingly, the case is remanded to the RO for the following:

1.  The RO should obtain complete
copies of outpatient treatment records
from the Fayetteville, North Carolina
VAMC, including the report of any
examinations of the veteran's left
knee since January 1993.

2.  The RO should schedule the veteran
for a VA special psychiatric
examination to determine the severity
and extent of any psychological
impairment.  All necessary tests and
studies should be accomplished, and
all clinical manifestations should be
reported in detail.  The claims file
must be made available to the examiner
prior to the examination.

3.  Thereafter, the originating agency
should assign, in accordance with the
Schedule for Rating Disabilities, a
disability evaluation for each of the
veteran' s disabilities and review the
veteran's claim by considering the
"average person" standard under 38
U.S.C.A. § 1502 (a) (1) (West 1991) as
well as the "unemployability" standard
under 38 C.F.R. §§ 4.17, and
3.321(b)(2) (1994).

4.  If the determination made is
unfavorable to the veteran, a
supplemental statement of the case
which sets forth the appropriate
Diagnostic Codes, a discussion of
their applicability to the veteran's
disabilities  and a discussion of the
"average person" and unemployability"
standards should be provided to the
veteran and his representative.  They
should be given an appropriate period
of time in which to respond.

Thereafter, the claims file, including the above requested
evidence, should be returned to this Board for appellate review,
if in order.  No action is required by the veteran until he
received further notice.

          THOMAS J. DANNAHER
          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).