[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 38, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 38CFR4.1]

[Page 364]
 
            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 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]