Cite as: 513 U. S. 115 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty, . . . during a period of war," is compensable) and 38 U. S. C. § 1131 (1988 ed., Supp. V) ("disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty, . . . during other than a period of war," is compensable) with 38 CFR § 3.310(a) (1993) ("Disability which is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury shall be service connected. When service connection is thus established for a secondary condition, the secondary condition shall be considered a part of the original condition").
In a second attempt to impose a VA-fault requirement, the Government suggests that the "as a result of" language of § 1151 signifies a proximate cause requirement that incorporates a fault test. Once again, we find the suggestion implausible. This language is naturally read simply to impose the requirement of a causal connection between the "injury" or "aggravation of an injury" and "hospitalization, medical or surgical treatment, or the pursuit of a course of vocational rehabilitation." Assuming that the connection is limited to proximate causation so as to narrow the class of compensable cases, that narrowing occurs by eliminating remote consequences, not by requiring a demonstration of fault.3 See generally W. Keeton, D. Dobbs, R. Keeton, & D. Owen, Pros-ser and Keeton on Law of Torts § 42 (5th ed. 1984). The eccentricity of reading a fault requirement into the "result
3 We do not, of course, intend to cast any doubt on the regulations insofar as they exclude coverage for incidents of a disease's or injury's natural progression, occurring after the date of treatment. See 38 CFR § 3.358(b)(2) (1993). VA action is not the cause of the disability in these situations. Nor do we intend to exclude application of the doctrine volenti non fit injuria. See generally M. Bigelow, Law of Torts 39-43 (8th ed. 1907). It would be unreasonable, for example, to believe that Congress intended to compensate veterans for the necessary consequences of treatment to which they consented (i. e., compensating a veteran who consents to the amputation of a gangrenous limb for the loss of the limb).
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