Imagine having had Hep in service and still actually being jaundiced at discharge. Then compound it by filing and getting the Gettysburg address absent the part about “For he who shall have borne the battle…”. Come back thirty three years later and refile. Witness in utter horror your claim run up on the RO rocks without so much as a C&P exam even though you have documented evidence and a solid nexus.

Pay two hundred dollars or double the third roll of the dice after an idiotic DRO boondoggle to get out of ROLA. Arrive at the BvA and finally get it straightened out. So solly, Chahlie. We blew it on the Dx in 1973. The vA examiner’s rationale was a little askew. Fortunately we got it right in 2011. What’s that? No, sonny. We don’t pay back to ’73. It would be nice if we did but we’d be broke if we ran this ship like that.
As noted, the Veteran filed a claim for entitlement to service connection for a liver disability shortly after separation, and a December 1973 rating decision determined that no chronic disability was present. Laboratory reports indicate a diagnosis of hepatitis C, confirmed by liver biopsy, in 1996. The Veteran has submitted statements from treating physicians which indicate care for the disorder from that time to the present. The Veteran has not been given a VA gastrointestinal examination to determine the etiology of his hepatitis; however, given a very probative opinion by a private physician, the Board determines that such an opinion is unnecessary. 

That’s pretty funny, huh? Vet has Hx of hep in service, lottsa post service confirmation of hepatitis and just plain lottsa hep. today. Hmm, what do you think Bob. Should we send the Vet out for a Dog and Pony show at QTC? Naw, the C&P fund is killing us this quarter. QTC charges too much. I’d say it was acute and all his symptoms resolved before discharge. You? Yep. I’m game. Write it up. You think this stuff is made up? Perhaps readers have a more cogent theory on how it goes down. Groves v. Peake ought to put this puppy to bed. Therein lies the problem. The M-21 doesn’t have a LexisNexis VA CD attached to it. No flies on the raters.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp/wraper_bva.asp?file=/vetapp11/Files4/1138995.txt