Every once in a while we see a BVA or CAVC ruling that intrigues us and demands that we present it to you, the inquiring Vet. Usually these decisions are the product of a Veteran presenting his own claim (pro se) without the benefit of a VSO or attorney. What, then, to make of this decision? An attorney purporting to “represent” this Veteran, one Kathy A. Lieberman, steps forth and trips on her shoe laces before they even get to the R.O. Why on earth would one refuse to seek SC for the one disease (of three- HAV, HBV and HCV) that afflicts you. In the “ISSUES” section of this decision the Attorney asks the BVA to grant SC for any hep other than A and C. By process of elimination, we are left to infer she is applying for either B, D or conceivably Autoimmune Hepatitis . As the Vet had Hep in service and they had no way of discerning whether it was A or B in the sixties (and C had not been discovered yet), the smart money was to seek SC for Hepatitis-period. Who knows what flavor he had back then? Current testing can ascertain that info now. However, you will notice that because the Vet never seeks SC for HCV, the VA conveniently does not go there. They do not test him for it simply because he didn’t apply for that benefit. He obviously is suffering from some horrendous liver ailment but that does not concern the VA because it is not due to Hep B or D. This just reinforces the old “Field of Dreams” adage that if you don’t build it, they won’t come. Here the Vet has entrusted his case to an attorney who needs remedial education about different flavors of hep. If the Vet is seeking to reopen a claim for Hep A as stated in #1 below in the Issues section, why does he seek SC for hepatitis other than A (and incidentally, C) in #2? This makes absolutely no sense. For the record, Hep. A is acute rather than chronic and VA will not rate it as such.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp08/Files5/0838767.txt

Crazy, Huh? The attorney has effectively precluded the VA from investigating the possibility of whether the Vet has Hep C. One would assume they would automatically test for this as they love to poke into dark corners and come to the wrong conclusion. If something is going wrong in the liver box, shouldn’t they ask to reopen the 2006 Hep C claim? With the simple phrase “other than A or C” she has sunk this Vet’s boat before they left the harbor. Smart money would have dictated that this Vet apply for “liver disorder” and then push Print. File this one under Dum and Dummer because she doesn’t deserve a b after “dum”. Nobody can be that stupid, can they?