The Veteran's unauthorized medical expenses for a private hospitalization due to right elbow gout were granted, as the treatment was deemed necessary and timely given the severity of his condition.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the emergency nature of the right elbow gout necessitated immediate medical attention, which was provided at Concord Hospital. The nearest VA facilities were not feasibly available on the morning of February 24, 2013.
- Claimed conditions
- gout of the right elbow
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 26, 2018
- Citation
- 18121559
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 18121559.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for gout of the left shoulder, bilateral hands and fingers, bilateral elbows, and bilateral feet and toes. The evidence is at least in equipoise that these conditions had their onset during service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's service-connected knee, ankle, elbow, and hand disabilities are being remanded for further examination to determine their current severity.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal for all issues related to increased ratings for various knee, ankle, elbow, and elbow impairment conditions prior to the issuance of a decision.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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