The Veteran's medical expenses incurred at the Mayo Clinic on December 12, 2016 were approved because his condition was considered an emergency and no VA facility was feasibly available to him.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran reasonably believed he had a medical emergency due to worsening abdominal pain and hernia symptoms, which led him to seek treatment at the Mayo Clinic. The closest VA facilities were over 1 hour away, making them not feasibly available during his emergency.
- Claimed conditions
- Abdominal pain, Left inguinal hernia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19122755
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,035 · 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 19122755.
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.
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The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for residuals of colon cancer is granted, with a new rating of 30 percent effective December 1, 2024. The claims for ratings in excess of 10 percent for two painful scars and for compensable ratings for four remaining scars are denied.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a disability manifested by abdominal pain, and remanded the claims for service connection for dyspnea and acute myeloid leukemia.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for a higher initial rating for left inguinal hernia and an initial compensable rating for the scar of the left inguinal hernia, as there was no evidence of recurrent hernia or a painful, unstable, or large scar.
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