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.
The deciding factor: There was no evidence of an emergent condition requiring immediate care that would have been hazardous to life or health if delayed. The Veteran's home is within a reasonable distance from both VA facilities and a private hospital, making it feasible for emergency treatment to be provided at a VA facility.
- Claimed conditions
- Headache, Urinary Tract Infection
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19149200
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection and increased ratings, finding no current disability or sufficient evidence to support higher ratings.
- 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 determined that the Veteran's headaches, sleep apnea, and heart disability are related to service and have assigned a remand for further examination.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a headache disability as secondary to his service-connected hypertension or hypertension-related medication, finding that there was no evidence linking the headaches to his hypertension.
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