The veteran's unauthorized medical expenses incurred at a non-VA facility on January 14-15, 2004 are granted as the condition was an emergent one and VA facilities were not feasibly available.
The deciding factor: The veteran's condition required immediate attention due to hypothermia and confusion, making it an emergency that would have been hazardous if delayed.
- Claimed conditions
- hypothermia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 4, 2006
- Citation
- 0637524
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,547 · Granted: 20% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 0637524.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for additional development due to a lack of VA examination in connection with service connection claims for residuals of hypothermia and heat stroke.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to errors in duty to assist and insufficient medical opinions regarding the nature and etiology of the Veteran's cause of death. The AOJ is instructed to verify the Veteran's alleged exposure to herbicide agents during his service in Okinawa, Japan, and obtain a VA medical opinion on the etiology of COD.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's cause of death was hemorrhagic shock with acidosis and hypothermia, which are not service-connected. The Board finds that a VA medical opinion is needed to determine if the Veteran's exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune contributed to his death.
- Dismissed
The appeals for service connection for hypothermia, hearing loss, chronic fatigue syndrome, and PTSD have been dismissed.,Service connection has been reopened for right foot cold injury, left foot cold injury, right hand cold injury, and left hand cold injury.
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