More Munji Banter

[cannoncocker]

I am asking for an opinion for possible course of action if any. I meet the requirements verbatim set forth in:

Citation Nr: 0531165

Decision Date: 11/18/05 Archive Date: 11/30/05

DOCKET NO. 05-05 278 ) DATE

)

)

On appeal from the

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO)

in Reno, Nevada

Which entitlted the appellant SC for HEP C due to use of MUNJIE and the lack of documented risky behavior.

Mine was in all likelihood contracted in 78 or 79 during a unit flu shot. My difficulty in pursueing this is that I have already gone through the 12 month interferon treatment which had a 13% success rate but it worked for me. Determined by biopsy I sustained little damage and have been at non detectable viral levels since 1998 after the treatment. I think the success rate largely depends on the Gnome of the Hep C variant. Anyway I do not know if the fight would be worth the, probable 0% disability they would assign. The only real negative impact on my life is I treat myself as if I had active Hep C, as in no blood donation, protected sex, no sharing of tooth brushes, and etc. since I would not take any chance of visiting this illness on anyone even though according to the the specialists it is gone. Since the experts were the ones that devised this method of spreading this illness to start with, at least in my case.

It seems all but impossible to prove documented injuries with images, IMO's, .... much less an agument that could be explained away in many ways. I could no believe the citation given in the other thread, but clearly the BVA was on board with the argument of the plantiff.

So the opinion I am asking for if I cited the above case would it still get kicked all the way to the BVA and would I still be looking at 0% disabiling?

[cannoncocker]

Insightful reponse from elsewhere, but still doesn't answer the rating % question. Another responder claimed Hep C was in his SMR and they didn't bother to mention that to him. The 10% rating was thrown out there, which is sick given a life threatening virus with low resolution rate:

That is nothing more than one decision on one claim by one person and it does not establish a precedent for subsequent claims. At best that was a very shaky decision; however, if the facts in your situation mirror the facts in that situation, service connection is certainly possible. This might have to come from BVA like in that case, but it is possible.

What that guy had going for him is that there were two physicians, one VA and one non-VA, who opined that this particular person's hepatitis was as likely as not due to the injections in service. Equally important was the fact that both of these opinions were based on a history given by the veteran that wasn't rebutted by any other objective evidence AND there were no other doctor's opinions to the contrary. Do you have medical opinions stating that your hepatitis is as least as likely as not due to the injections in service AND are these opinions based on a verifiable history that isn't rebutted by other evidence of record?

As a DRO I worked several of these type hepatitis claims and in almost all of them the history given by the veteran was rebutted by something in the record. Probably the most commonly seen involved tattoos obtained either in service or following service at a tattoo parlor, or a medical history that documented substance abuse. Either of these would be far more likely to be a source for hepatitis than the injector guns.

So like I said, it will depend on the specific facts in your situation. At any rate you will need at least one solid medical opinion at a minimum.