I guess Johnny Alabama wasn’t expecting vA to actually go back and look at his hospitalization records. Surprise! Lookit here. It says that it wasn’t for HCV but actually pneumonia. Can anyone explain this disparity? Johnny finally came clean at the Hearing and the AMLEG rep. must have been wishing he was somewhere-anywhere- else.

The Veteran testified in May 2012 that he experienced many symptoms of hepatitis C including daily fatigue and nausea, vomiting, and pain in his neck and right shoulder. The Veteran also testified that he experienced an incapacitating episode of hepatitis C which resulted in a period of private hospitalization from November 2011 to January 2012. The Veteran is competent to report the symptoms he experiences, but the Board finds that his opinion as to the cause of the symptoms simply cannot be accepted as competent evidence. See Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1376-1377 (Fed. Cir. 2007); Buchanan v. Nicholson, 451 F.3d 1131, 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2006). In this case, the Veteran’s statements are clearly outweighed by the medical evidence against the claim, including the opinion of the September 2011 VA examiner. Additionally, while the Veteran testified that he experienced a period of incapacitation due to hepatitis C that required hospitalization in November 2011, he later clarified during the hearing that he was actually hospitalized due to pneumonia. He reported that laboratory testing during the hospitalization showed elevated liver enzymes, but did not report the finding of any specific symptoms due to hepatitis. In any event, the medical evidence clearly shows that the Veteran has not experienced any incapacitating episodes due to hepatitis C. An increased rating is therefore not warranted under Diagnostic Code 7354 for rating hepatitis C.

Hey, come on. It happens all the time. You go in with a stomach ache and it turns out to be an ulcer. The LFTs were elevated so you have to go with that. Benefit of the doubt and all.