The Veteran's unauthorized medical expenses incurred for a urinary tract infection at Parkridge Medical Center on August 25, 2012 were approved due to the presence of a permanent and total service-connected disability. The private hospitalization was deemed necessary as it constituted an emergency treatment where delay would have been hazardous to her health.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's UTI symptoms met the prudent layperson standard for a medical emergency, with significant abdominal pain that could have resulted in serious harm if delayed.
- Claimed conditions
- Urinary Tract Infection
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 6, 2019
- Citation
- 19143853
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 granted an earlier effective date of May 29, 2018, for the grant of total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU).
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding whether VA's actions or inactions caused the Veteran's death from septic shock. The Appellant is seeking compensation for her husband's death, but the VA needs to obtain additional private medical records and provide a new opinion on the issue.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, other than PTSD, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, benign prostatic hypertrophy and prostatitis, urinary tract infection, urine retention, bladder incontinence, nocturia, obesity, cataracts, and fatigue was denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a finding of service connection for any of these conditions.
- Denied
The Veteran's unauthorized medical expenses incurred at a private hospital on September 16, 2016 were denied because there was no emergency situation warranting treatment at the private facility and VA facilities were feasibly available.
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