The Veteran's unauthorized medical expenses incurred from April 6 to 8, 2010 at the Ocala Regional Medical Center are approved due to his service-connected disabilities and the lack of feasible availability of VA facilities.
The deciding factor: The Veteran had a history of heart disease and angina, which led him to seek emergency treatment for chest pain. The medical condition was emergent in nature as he believed it could have endangered his health if not treated promptly. Despite being totally disabled due to service-connected conditions, the closest VA facility did not have available space for transfer or admission at the time of the incident.
- Claimed conditions
- paranoid schizophrenia, scar of the right forearm
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 70%
- Decision date
- December 31, 2013
- Citation
- 1343414
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 1343414.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal has been dismissed as the appellant, through his representative, withdrew the appeal prior to a decision being made.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection of paranoid schizophrenia is denied. The Board has also remanded the case to obtain a VA examination regarding his current disability rating for paranoid schizophrenia.
- Denied
The Veteran's sole service-connected condition, paranoid schizophrenia, is rated at 100% disabling. The Board denied Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) based on housebound due to the lack of additional service-connected disabilities independently ratable at 60%, and because the Veteran's substantial confinement was not solely attributable to his service-connected disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the Veteran's claim for service connection for a psychiatric disorder, to include paranoid schizophrenia and PTSD, must be remanded due to a duty to assist error. The Veteran will need to provide additional information about his in-service stressor and VA records related to Social Security disability benefits.
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