BVA9507674 DOCKET NO. 93-11 221 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida THE ISSUES 1. Whether new and material evidence has been submitted to reopen a claim for service connection for traumatic arthritis of the spine and right knee. 2. Entitlement to service connection for swelling of the lower extremities. 3. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus. 4. Entitlement to service connection for frostbite. 5. Entitlement to a total evaluation based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: The American Legion WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL Appellant ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Raymond F. Ferner, Counsel INTRODUCTION This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA or Board) on appeal from a September 1991 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida (RO) which denied the benefits sought on appeal. The veteran, who had active service from March 1940 to August 1945 and was a prisoner of war of the German Government from April 1944 to May 1945, appealed the decision to the BVA, and the case was received at the Board in May 1993. Rating decisions dated in April 1984 and June 1985 denied service connection for swelling of the lower extremities, but the record does not reflect that the veteran was ever notified of the denial of service connection. Consequently, the Board will review this claim without regard to those prior rating decisions. The record also reflects that BVA decisions dated in December 1986 and July 1988 denied service connection for arthritis of multiple joints. REMAND A preliminary review of the record discloses that the veteran has not been afforded a VA examination of his service-connected disabilities in connection with his claim for a total evaluation based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities. In this regard, the Board notes that service connection has been established for anxiety with a dysthymic disorder, peptic ulcer disease, malaria and a scar of the left inguinal area. While the outpatient treatment records obtained in connection with the veteran's current claim do not show any treatment for peptic ulcer disease, malaria or the scar of the left inguinal area, they do show that the veteran receives regular outpatient psychiatric treatment. The Board observes that when the veteran was afforded a psychiatric examination in January 1990 he was diagnosed as having generalized anxiety and depression, and beginning chronic brain syndrome. At that time, the examiner was of the opinion that the veteran was unemployable; however, the basis for such conclusion is not clear. Under these circumstances, the Board believes the veteran should be afforded a psychiatric examination to aid in assessing the degree of impairment in the veteran's capacity for performing substantially gainful employment which is caused by his service- connected psychiatric disability . Therefore, in order to give the veteran every consideration with respect to the present appeal, it is the Board's opinion that further development of the case is desirable. Accordingly, this case is REMANDED for the following action: The veteran should be afforded a psychiatric examination to ascertain the nature, severity, and manifestations of all psychiatric disorders which may be present. Any and all indicated evaluations, studies, or tests deemed necessary by the examiner should be accomplished. The examiner is requested to report complaints and clinical findings in detail and to clinically correlate the complaints and clinical findings. The primary purpose of the examination is to attempt to quantify and differentiate, to the extent possible, between the degree of social and industrial impairment caused by the veteran's service- connected anxiety with dysthymic disorder and that produced by any other psychiatric disorder identified on examination. The examiner should assign an Axis V diagnosis (Global Assessment of Functioning Scale) consistent with the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (3rd ed., revised 1987), and explain what the assigned score represents. The examiner is further requested to attempt to quantify the degree of social and industrial impairment due to the veteran's service- connected anxiety with dysthymic disorder in terms of the nomenclature in 38 C.F.R. § 4.132, Diagnostic Code 9400 (1994). Additionally, the examiner is requested to review the report of the January 1990 VA psychiatric examination and offer comments and an opinion regarding the veteran's capacity for performing substantially gainful employment, and if the veteran is determined to be unemployable, the examiner should specify whether the unemployability is caused by the service-connected psychiatric disability. The complete rationale for each opinion expressed should be set forth. Since it is important "that each disability be viewed in relation to its history[,]" 38 C.F.R. § 4.1 (1994), copies of all pertinent medical records in the veteran's claims file or, in the alternative, the claims file, must be made available to the examiner for review prior to, and during the examination. When the development requested has been completed, the case should again be reviewed by the RO on the basis of the additional evidence. If the benefits sought are not granted, the veteran and his representative should be furnished a supplemental statement of the case, and be afforded a reasonable opportunity to respond before the record is returned to the Board for further review. The purpose of this REMAND is to obtain additional development, and the Board does not intimate any opinion as to the merits of the case, either favorable or unfavorable, at this time. The veteran is free to submit any additional evidence he desires to have considered in connection with his current appeal. The Board will defer full consideration of all the issues on appeal pending completion of the above-requested action. No action is required of the veteran until he is notified. JACQUELINE E. MONROE 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) (1994).