Remember, Veterans, when you obtain a nexus from a doctor, it has to be phrased exactly right or it is a wasted effort. This ruling is a classic example of that which I speak. This Veteran did everything correctly with the exception of parsing the nexus in “more likely”, “most likely” or “at least as likely as not”. Any nexus to an event 35 + years ago is necessarily subjective to say the least. A doctor must analyze what, where, when, how, and come up with a diagnosis predicated on those risks. VA has taken the stance recently ( within the last 8 years or so) that it must be couched in the terms mentioned above. Any use by a doctor of the terms “possibly”, “probably”, “could have”,” might have” or similar phrases results in rejection. To prove my point, I have included this BVA ruling. I suspect that the Vet might have won this pissing match but for the defective language in his VA doctor’s nexus. Had the proper phrase been employed, I suspect that the VA would have caved in and given him the SC. If you give them any slack, they will hang you. The Vet was very honest and even admitted some no-nos that would shine an unfavorable light on this claim. But he lost his fight when he didn’t prep the Doctor with a dos and don’ts on what is permissible or, rather, advisable. For those of you preparing to do battle with VA, let this be a valuable lesson. You want to win at the earliest point. Going up to the BVA is the second assault. You will actually have the higher chance of winning here if you screwed up @ the VARO level. Unless you or your law dogs can find something BVA did wrong, taking it up to the CAVC is going to be an excercise in futility. Keep this in mind. Examine everything you assemble for your claim. Read through all the little tricks of the trade we have assembled in our articles on claim filing and nexus preparation. Think BOY SCOUT. You can win but you have to follow the recipe. This gentleman squandered an opportunity by not having what he needed. Close only counts in hand grenades and Claymores and my personal favorite- Napalm.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp08/Files1/0804757.txt