The Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of unauthorized medical expenses incurred at the Arkansas Heart Hospital from March 14-17, 2008 is granted. The Board finds that VA facilities were not feasibly available and an attempt to use them beforehand would not have been considered reasonable by a prudent layperson.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's condition was stable for safe transfer to a VA medical facility on March 15, 2008, but no beds were available at the VAMC. The Board found that AHH contacted the VAMC several times during this episode of care in an attempt to arrange safe transfer.
- Claimed conditions
- Ventricular fibrillation, Left anterior descending stenosis, Left ventricular dysfunction
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 27, 2011
- Citation
- 1116387
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 1116387.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for a cardiovascular disability, secondary to hypertension, but denied a compensable rating and an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for hypertension.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for multiple conditions, including ischemic heart disease with coronary artery disease, Type II diabetes mellitus, and Parkinson's disease, effective from October 20, 2017.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death was determined to be due to his service-connected tracheostomy scar, which complicated intubation and caused aspiration pneumonia with hypercapnic and hypoxic respiratory failure. The Board granted DIC benefits based on this determination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for chest pain, to include bradycardia, and entitlement to a TDIU due to service-connected disabilities. The VA examiner is required to provide an opinion on the etiology of the Veteran's heart disorders related to her active duty service.
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