The Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of medical expenses at Providence Milwaukie Hospital is denied because a VA facility was feasibly available when he sought private treatment in preference to VA services.
The deciding factor: The Veteran chose to seek private treatment in preference to the availability of VA facilities, which rendered his claim ineligible for reimbursement under VA regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- epigastric distress
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- June 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19144179
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,316 · Granted: 43% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19144179.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for his service-connected GERD is remanded due to the inadequacy of the January 2019 VA examination, which did not evaluate all symptoms and provide an adequate assessment.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's gastrointestinal disability, which includes symptoms such as epigastric distress with dysphagia, pyrosis, regurgitation, melena, occasional constipation and weight loss without anemia, is productive of considerable impairment of health. The Board has granted a 30 percent rating for the entire appeal period.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including obtaining medical records and scheduling examinations to assess the veteran's conditions. The claims will be readjudicated after these actions.
- Whole 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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