Eligibility for medical treatment

§ 612. Eligibility for medical treatment (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the Administrator, within the limits of Veterans’ Administration facilities, may furnish such medical services for a service-connected disability as he finds to be reasonably necessary to a veteran of any war, to a veteran discharged or released from the active military, naval, or air service for a disability incurred or aggravated in line of duty, or to a person who is in receipt of, or but for the receipt of retirement pay would be entitled to, disability compensation. Veterans eligible under this subsection by reason of discharge or release for disability incurred or aggravated in line of duty may also be furnished medical services for that disability, even though it is not a service-connected disability for the purposes of this chapter. (b) Outpatient dental services and treatment, and related dental appliances, shall be furnished under this section only for a dental condition or disability— (1) which is service-connected and compensable in degree; (2) which is service-connected, but not compensable in degree, but only (A) if it is shown to have been in existence at time of discharge or release from active military, naval, or air service and (B) if application for treatment is made within one year after such discharge or release; (3) which is a service-connected dental condition or disability due to combat wounds or other service trauma, or of a former prisoner of war; (4) which is associated with and is aggravating a disability resulting from some other disease or injury which was incurred in or aggravated by active military, naval, or air service; or (5) from which a veteran of the Spanish-American War is suffering. (c) Dental services and related appliances for a dental condition or disability described in clause (2) of subsection (b) of this section shall be furnished on a one-time completion basis, unless the services rendered on a one-time completion basis are found unacceptable within the limitations of good professional standards, in which event such additional services may be afforded as are required to complete professionally acceptable treatment. 72 Stat. 1143 (d) Dental appliances, wheelchairs, artificial limbs, trusses, special clothing, and similar appliances to be furnished by the Administrator under this section may be procured by him either by purchase or by manufacture, whichever he determines may be advantageous and reasonably necessary. (e) Any disability of a veteran of the Spanish-American War, upon application for the benefits of this section or outpatient medical services under section 624 of this title, shall be considered for the purposes thereof to be a service-connected disability incurred or aggravated in a period of war.