This is not a tricky legal decision. It is strange that it wasn’t denied. No doctors got to do their “opine” thing. No drugs were involved , no unprotected sex. Nothing. The VET actually applied under what’s referred to as an 1151 claim. That’s the # for the statute(38 USC 1151) that says if you go to the VAMC, slip and fall down and get hurt, get medical attention and come down with HIV or HCV, or whatever – then you get SC for the VA screwup. Its like medical malpractice a la VA style. There is no big $4 mil. settlement, no new cadillac, skip the time share in Mexico. You top out @ $2527/mo for 100% if you’re lucky. You won’t see a lot of these 1151 claims after 1990ish because they started screening the Blood supply. But if you were in a VAMC for a transfusion during an operation, you can definitely win the SC with a doc. nexus. They won’t even argue with you. VA might get a bad reputation if they started injuring the same VETS they were supposed to be healing.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp06/Files3/0616001.txt