Indeed it is.
When you're trying to ascertain the evidentiary foundation of an event occurring in any given case, there are all sorts of evidentiary rules and avenues offered to you. One is obviously a documented report on file of an injury. That's an example of something that is extremely useful. The military are pretty good at that, at documenting what they call the “medical attendance records”. Often you will find notes from the doctor, way back to the 1940s: “Showed up with a bad knee today...gave him an ointment...will be okay.”
If an individual didn't want to go on sick parade because he wouldn't pass off as a malingerer, he can obviously maintain that and testify to that at the hearing. That's where the board member's professional training at ascertaining whether or not he's telling the truth becomes paramount. That's why you have a hearing sometimes, because the evidence is not there.
So the training of the board member is to look at the documentary reported accident claims that are on file, what the hard paper tells you, and if you don't have that paperwork, then you apply what the law tells you to apply, and that's the benefit of the doubt, by which the circumstances of the accident explain why there's no documentary report or injury report, and if you believe the individual who's testifying in front of you as to the circumstances of his injury, once that is ascertained, there is link to the present-day disability.
So it's experience. It's training. It's something that all board members face, and must face, and are trained to deal with.