Citation Nr: 0721537 Decision Date: 07/18/07 Archive Date: 08/02/07 DOCKET NO. 05-39 623 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Newark, New Jersey THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for hepatitis C. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL Appellant ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. M. Macierowski, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from July 1964 to July 1966. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office in Newark, New Jersey (RO). FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The veteran's service personnel records reflect that he served as a medical corpsman in service. 2. The veteran has a current diagnosis of hepatitis C. 3. The medical evidence of record relates the veteran's current hepatitis C diagnosis to his military service. CONCLUSION OF LAW Hepatitis C was incurred in active military service. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 5103A, 5107 (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (2006). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION Pertinent regulations concerning VA's duties to notify and assist were recently amended, and VA has issued regulations implementing these amendments. See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5100, 5102, 5103, 5103A, 5106, 5107, 5126 (West 2002 & Supp. 2005); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.156(a), 3.159, 3.326 (2006). Without deciding whether VA's duties to notify and to assist have been satisfied in the present case, the Board concludes that it may proceed with adjudication of the veteran's appeal. This is so because the Board is taking action favorable to the veteran by granting his claim for entitlement to service connection for hepatitis C. As such, this decision poses no risk of prejudice to the veteran. See, e.g., Bernard v. Brown, 4 Vet. App. 384 (1993); see also Pelegrini v. Principi, 18 Vet. App. 112 (2004); VAOPGCPREC 16-92, 57 Fed. Reg. 49,747 (1992). Service connection may be established for a disability resulting from diseases or injuries which are clearly present in service or for a disease diagnosed after discharge from service, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. In order to establish service connection for the veteran's claimed disorders, there must be (1) medical evidence of a current disability; (2) medical, or in certain circumstances, lay evidence of inservice incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) medical evidence of a nexus between the claimed inservice disease or injury and the current disability. Hickson v. West, 12 Vet. App. 247, 253 (1999). The veteran seeks service connection for hepatitis C. He claims that service as a medical corpsman, inoculation by air-guns, and receipt of a blood transfusion during surgery in service, all may have caused his hepatitis C. The recognized risk factors for hepatitis C include receipt of blood or blood products before 1992; intravenous and intranasal drug use; occupational exposure to contaminated blood or fluids via employment in patient care or clinical laboratory work; high risk sexual practices; hemodialysis; organ transplants; and body piercing or tattooing. The veteran's only documented risk factor is his service as a medical corpsman. His Department of Defense Form DD-214, Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer of Discharge, reflects that his military occupational specialty was field medical combat specialist, and that he was enrolled in Hospital Corps School from August 1964 to December 1964, and in Field Medical Service School from January 1965 to February 1965. Thus, he may have knowingly or unknowingly been exposed to hepatitis C through his employment in patient care. To that end, there is no documented evidence of any of the other known risk factors for hepatitis C. The veteran has denied, and there is no documentary evidence of, inservice or postservice use of intravenous and intranasal drugs, high risk sexual activity, or tattoos. There is also no objective evidence in the record that the veteran ever underwent hemodialysis, had an organ transplant, or body piercing, or was in receipt of blood or blood products prior to 1992. Finally, although claimed by the veteran, inoculation by air- gun is not a recognized risk factor for hepatitis C. Ultimately, the evidence of record shows that the veteran was only subject to one risk factor for hepatitis C. There is no evidence to suggest that he may have contracted hepatitis C through any of the other recognized means. Accordingly, for these reasons, service connection for hepatitis C is warranted. ORDER Service connection for hepatitis C is granted, subject to the laws and regulations governing the payment of monetary benefits. ____________________________________________ JOY A. MCDONALD Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Department of Veterans Affairs