I couldn’t think how to communicate this decision logic in 30 words or less hence the speculation header. Try this logic on for size. First, the vA examiner reads the file and concluded the Vet never had hep in service. Someone discovered the error and gave the file back to him to save his ass. Instead of coming up with a logical nexus to explain it, off he goes into the deep end of testing protocol which I’m sure he had to read up on before he parsed the denial.

Here, the RO apparently returned the file to the VA examiner mentioned because he had failed to recognize and acknowledge the treatment, including while hospitalized, the Veteran had received for hepatitis during his military service. But even with the benefit of this additional review, this examiner still was unable to comment on this determinative issue of causation and inception without admittedly having to resort to mere speculation, partly because there was no available test when the Veteran was in the military during the early 1970s that would have permitted doctors to determine exactly what type of hepatitis he had. And based on this examiner’s comments and explanation, there seems little to no chance he will be able to provide more definitive comment on this issue, even if given additional opportunity.

The RO desperately tried to rehabilitate the rater’s reputation by giving him a second shot at it but the Board Judge realizes his best years may already be behind him.  Yes, the Vet wins, but this is classic proof of why haste makes waste. Haste,  measured in years at the Oakland VARO, is a subjective vA measurement much like their mathematics.