The Veteran's claim for payment or reimbursement of medical services received at Methodist Hospital on April 3, 2016 is denied because a VA facility was feasibly available to provide the treatment and the Veteran had already visited VA facilities multiple times without success.
The deciding factor: A VA facility (Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital) was feasibly available to provide the treatment the Veteran received at MH on April 3, 2016, and he did not seek care there due to previous unsuccessful visits.
- Claimed conditions
- headache, severe pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19177773
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.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for depression but granted an initial 50 percent rating for a headache disability.
- Granted
The Board granted eligibility for attorney's fees based on past-due benefits awarded in a November 2024 rating decision for an increased initial rating of 50 percent for the service-connected headache disability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial 30 percent rating for a facial scar and a separate 10 percent rating for pain, but dismissed appeals for service connection for sleep apnea and back disability due to untimely notices of disagreement. The claims for an acquired psychiatric disability and headaches were remanded.
- Dismissed
The Board denied the veteran's appeal for service connection for various conditions as the appeals were not timely filed.
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