The veteran's unauthorized medical expenses incurred at the Unicoi County Memorial Hospital in September 2002 were denied as she was not service-connected for any condition and a VA facility was feasibly available.
The deciding factor: The veteran did not meet the criteria under the Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act to receive payment or reimbursement for unauthorized medical expenses incurred at a non-VA hospital due to lack of emergency treatment necessity, financial liability, and other eligibility conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- gastroenteritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 12, 2004
- Citation
- 0418525
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0418525.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for a compensable rating and an increased rating for gastritis, gastroenteritis, and GERD to obtain a retrospective medical opinion on the severity of the Veteran's symptoms without the ameliorative effects of medication.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for chronic sinusitis, fibromyalgia, left and right ear hearing loss, and gastroenteritis, but granted service connection for migraine headaches. The claims for an initial evaluation higher than 30 percent for chronic sinusitis and 20 percent for fibromyalgia were also denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a gastrointestinal disability, to include gastroenteritis, as there was no evidence of a current disability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for gastritis, finding new and relevant evidence that the Veteran's current diagnosis of gastritis had its onset in service.
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