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Hepatitis C is a viral infection that inflames the liver and, over years, can lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer. Many veterans were first diagnosed long after service, which is why how the infection is linked to service often becomes the central question in a VA appeal.
VA rating schedule, diagnostic code 7354
Hepatitis C is a virus that inflames the liver and, over years, can lead to scarring (cirrhosis) or liver cancer. The VA does not treat hepatitis C as automatically connected to service — there is no presumptive rule for it. Instead it applies the usual three-part test: a current diagnosis, something that happened during service, and a medical link between the two (38 CFR § 3.303).
The VA's own hepatitis program recognizes specific risk factors — most strongly a blood transfusion before the blood supply began being screened in 1992, and also intravenous drug use, tattoos, and other exposures to blood. The VA has studied whether the air-gun "jet injectors" once used for mass vaccinations could spread the virus; its guidance notes transmission is biologically possible but that no case of a veteran infected by a military jet injector has been confirmed. Which documented risk factor the record supports is often the central question in these appeals.
When hepatitis C is service-connected, the VA rates it under the digestive-system schedule (38 CFR § 4.114). Under the rules in effect since 2024, Diagnostic Code 7354 (hepatitis C) is evaluated using the chronic-liver-disease criteria of Diagnostic Code 7345, on a 0 to 100 percent scale. The rating rises with the severity of progressive liver disease — for example, needing continuous medication along with weight loss and symptoms such as daily fatigue, malaise, or poor appetite at the lower-but-compensable levels (such as 20 percent), up through the most severe level, which reflects progressive disease requiring intensive antiviral and immune-modulating treatment. Because the rating tracks current liver disease and symptoms, successful treatment that clears the virus can change what later examinations find.
This is general educational information about how the VA's rules work — not legal advice, not a VA decision, and not a prediction about any individual claim. Outcomes depend on your own facts and evidence; a denial can be appealed.
Grounded in federal regulations and VA guidance, independently reviewed June 2026. Educational information, not legal advice or a VA determination.
Across 9,954 real Board appeals for Hepatitis C
A denial is often not the end either — remands (shown below) are sent back for more development and can still end in a grant. These are historical outcomes, not a prediction of your case.
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Among the appeals that were granted or partly granted, the most common ways Hepatitis C was linked to service:
These appeals involved a recognized exposure — which can mean the link to service is presumed, with no nexus to prove:
The Board has determined that the Veteran's Hepatitis C with cirrhosis is related to service, and therefore grants service connection for these conditions.
The Board has granted service connection for hepatitis C and its secondary effects on other conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes mellitus type II, esophageal varices, hepatic encephalopathy, and splenomegaly.
The Board has granted service connection for benign lung nodules, calluses of both feet, flat feet, and hepatitis C. The effective dates are not specified as the claims were based on new evidence submitted by the Veteran.
The Veteran's service-connected Hepatitis C, lumbar DDD with strain, osteomyelitis, and loss of use of right foot disability rendered him so helpless as to be in need of regular aid and attendance. Effective October 28, 2008, the Veteran meets the criteria for SMC under various provisions.
The Veteran's hepatitis C is found to be proximately caused by the May 2004 colonoscopy at the Dallas VA Medical Center, resulting in additional disability. The Board granted compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for this condition.
The Veteran's cause of death was respiratory failure caused by hepatic failure, hepatocellular cancer, and chronic hepatitis C infection.,Service connection for the cause of death is granted as his alcohol and substance abuse were secondary to his service-connected PTSD.
Jump to the decisions from a specific year.
New decisions are added every week, and older years are actively being backfilled — a year that looks thin or missing here (especially 2011–2017) is a gap in our library, not in the Board’s decisions.
Veterans appealing Hepatitis C often look at outcomes for these too:
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This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.