The Board denied the claim for payment or reimbursement of unauthorized oncology medical treatment provided from January 2011 to April 2011 by Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, Washington as it was not authorized by VA and was not emergent.
The deciding factor: The non-VA oncology medical treatments were not authorized by VA in advance and were not rendered in an emergency situation.
- Claimed conditions
- small cell lung carcinoma, lytic bone lesions
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 28, 2014
- Citation
- 1418721
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 1418721.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's cause of death was determined to be due to small cell lung cancer, which is presumed service-connected based on exposure to herbicides during his Vietnam service.
- Partly granted
The Board found it plausible that the Veteran was exposed to asbestos in service, but concluded that his lung cancer was not related to this exposure. The VA examiner's opinion is needed to clarify whether the lung cancer was related to any possible in-service asbestos exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case for additional development, including obtaining a medical opinion on whether the veteran's asbestos exposure during service was a contributory cause of his lung cancer and subsequent death.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for the cause of the veteran's death, finding that his lung cancer was not related to his military service or exposure to herbicides.
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