The Veteran's non-VA medical treatment for left wrist pain on December 16, 2014 was granted reimbursement as it met the criteria of being an emergency and a VA facility not being feasibly available.
The deciding factor: The decision found that the nearest VA facility was more than two hours away and attempts to use this alternative service beforehand would not have been considered reasonable by a prudent layperson, thus meeting the criteria for reimbursement.
- Claimed conditions
- left wrist pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 6, 2019
- Citation
- 19108958
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 3,038 · Granted: 30% (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 19108958.
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 claims for service connection due to errors in duty to assist and need for additional medical opinions. The Veteran's pre-existing conditions are being evaluated, as is his current symptoms.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection on multiple conditions have been remanded due to the submission of new evidence after a prior denial. The Board finds that VA examinations and medical opinions are necessary to properly determine entitlement to service connection.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's appeals for service connection for right and left wrist pain as the NODs were untimely filed, more than one year after the August 2024 rating decision denying these conditions.
- Denied
The Veteran's hypertension and left wrist sprain were denied increased ratings. The hypertension was rated at 10% prior to March 2, 2023, and the left wrist sprain remains at a 10% rating.
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