Citation Nr: 1323257	
Decision Date: 07/22/13    Archive Date: 08/01/13

DOCKET NO.  09-18 958	)	DATE
	)

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Mountain Home, Tennessee


THE ISSUE

Entitlement to payment or reimbursement of unauthorized medical expenses in the amount of $8,616.83 for services provided by Mountain States Health Alliance from February 29, 2008, to March 1, 2008.


ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Michael T. Osborne, Counsel


INTRODUCTION

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2008 administrative decision issued by the VA Medical Center in Mountain Home, Tennessee, which denied the Veteran's claim of entitlement to payment or reimbursement of unauthorized medical expenses in the amount of $9,568.16 for services provided by Mountain States Health Alliance from February 28, 2008, to March 1, 2008.

In a November 2008 administrative decision, the VA Medical Center in Mountain Home, Tennessee, approved payment of medical expenses in the amount of $951.33 for services provided by Mountain States Health Alliance from February 28-29, 2008, and continued to deny payment of unauthorized medical expenses in the amount of $8,616.83 for services provided by Mountain States Health Alliance from February 29, 2008, to March 1, 2008.  Given the foregoing, the Board has recharacterized the issue on appeal as stated on the title page of this decision.


FINDINGS OF FACT

1.	The Veteran in this case served on active duty from April 1945 to January 1946.

2.	On January 30, 2009, the Board was notified by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office in Roanoke, Virginia, that the Veteran died in September 2008.


CONCLUSION OF LAW

Due to the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this claim at this time.  38 U.S.C.A. § 7104(a) (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2012); but see Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-389, § 212, 122 Stat. 4145, 4151 (2008). 


REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

Unfortunately, the Veteran (who is in the appellant in this case) died during the pendency of the appeal.  As a matter of law, appellants' claims do not survive their deaths.  Zevalkink v. Brown, 102 F.3d 1236, 1243-44 (Fed. Cir. 1996); Smith v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 330, 333-34 (1997); Landicho v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 42, 47 (1994).  This appeal on the merits has become moot by virtue of the death of the appellant and must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.  See 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104(a) (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2012).  (The Board observes parenthetically that, following the Veteran's death in September 2008, his son submitted a copy of a general power of attorney dated in 1994 and signed by the Veteran which gave the Veteran's son general power of attorney over his father's affairs.  The Veteran's son also corresponded with the Agency of Original Jurisdiction, (in this case, the VA Medical Center in Mountain Home, Tennessee) concerning this appeal after the Veteran's death.)

In reaching this determination, the Board intimates no opinion as to the merits of this appeal or to any derivative claim brought by a survivor of the Veteran.  38 C.F.R. § 20.1106 (2012).  


ORDER

The appeal is dismissed.



		
WAYNE M. BRAEUER
	Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals

Department of Veterans Affairs