[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 38, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 38CFR4.1]

[Page 370-371]
 
            TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF
 
                CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
 
PART 4_SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES--Table of Contents
 
                   Subpart A_General Policy in Rating
 
Sec.  4.1  Essentials of evaluative rating.


    This rating schedule is primarily a guide in the evaluation of 
disability resulting from all types of diseases and injuries encountered 
as a result of or

[[Page 371]]

incident to military service. The percentage ratings represent as far as 
can practicably be determined the average impairment in earning capacity 
resulting from such diseases and injuries and their residual conditions 
in civil occupations. Generally, the degrees of disability specified are 
considered adequate to compensate for considerable loss of working time 
from exacerbations or illnesses proportionate to the severity of the 
several grades of disability. For the application of this schedule, 
accurate and fully descriptive medical examinations are required, with 
emphasis upon the limitation of activity imposed by the disabling 
condition. Over a period of many years, a veteran's disability claim may 
require reratings in accordance with changes in laws, medical knowledge 
and his or her physical or mental condition. It is thus essential, both 
in the examination and in the evaluation of disability, that each 
disability be viewed in relation to its history.

[41 FR 11292, Mar. 18, 1976]