The Veteran seeks reimbursement for unauthorized medical expenses incurred at Munroe Medical Center on May 2, 2012. The Board finds that the treatment was emergency care and feasible given his health status and distress.
The deciding factor: The treatment provided was considered 'emergency treatment' due to the Veteran's history of deep venous thrombosis and concerns about potential complications from travel to a VA facility.
- Claimed conditions
- left lower extremity edema, deep venous thrombosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19113872
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,645 · Granted: 19% (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 19113872.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for right and left lower extremity edema, finding that the evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether these conditions are related to in-service herbicide agent exposure.
- Partly granted
The veteran's claims for service connection for several conditions, including low back disability and diabetes mellitus, type II, were granted. The claim for rheumatic fever was remanded.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeals for various ratings related to deep venous thrombosis, dermatitis, hyperhidrosis, and right kidney cysts with punctate nephrolithiasis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the claims for service connection of superior vena cava syndrome, deep venous thrombosis, fibrosing mediastinitis, and hepatic steatosis must be remanded due to deficiencies in the previous VA opinions regarding their etiology. The AOJ is instructed to obtain addendum VA opinions addressing these issues.
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