Second Social Security Denial

    • Anonymous
      August 19, 2006 at 9:28 pm

      I got my second SS denial today. Not a real surprise, but it did state that I was totally disabled from my current job. It also stated that I should be able to find something that allowed me to sit all the time. Funny thing is, my current job is sitting in front of a computer, and I am fully disabled from it! :confused:

      I’m not sure that I can find a job which is easier physically to perform. I guess for the appeal, we will just site this denial letter as proof that I am totally disabled!

      This just gets better every day!

      Hutch

    • Anonymous
      August 19, 2006 at 10:00 pm

      Hutch,
      keep after it. I had a guy who used to work in that field, tell me they usually always deny it the first time or 2. SOP= Standard Operating Procedure.

      Good luck friend….
      oh and thats a real honor to be included in your sig…*bows to hutch*
      strength to ya…

    • Anonymous
      August 19, 2006 at 10:32 pm

      Hi Hutch, got my second denial the end of July. Now my lawyer is waiting for our hearing date. Can take and usually does take a long time but we got to hang in there….Take care, Vicki

    • Anonymous
      August 19, 2006 at 11:22 pm

      Hutch.

      Getting a second denial is pretty common. Glad to hear that you have a lawyer, that will help a great deal in your appeal. Not sure of your current situation but I know that between the meds and numbness alone prevented me from being able to drive, sit in front of a computer all day etc. Stick with it, they really try to get people to give up I swear. Best of luck.

      Jerimy

    • Anonymous
      August 19, 2006 at 11:58 pm

      HUtch,

      Without knowing all of the details in your case, I might offer a few points of interest.
      To qualify for SS disability you must be unable to do any productive work. Therefore, to some degree you need to prove that you cannot do this. If you tried to work, and failed let them know why and how. If you didn’t try to go back to work, you need to document why you cannot do any work. In my case, I have pain and fatigue that prevents me from doing a 40 hour work week. Mt Dr. concurred, and Vocational Rehab (a State agency) agreed that I was unemployable. In addition to that I was able to describe the effects my medications had on me, and how that also hampered my ability to work.

      I know everybody’s CIDP ar GBS residuals are a little different. With so little known about our condition, it is sometimes hard to prove to SS that our problems are genuine.

      Hang in there, sometimes a good attorney can find a way to present your case in a better light, and in a manner that SS needs to see it. I wish you all the best. If you are disabled, you have EARNED your benefits. Keep on trying.

      Dick S

    • Anonymous
      August 20, 2006 at 12:13 am

      Thanks for all the replies.

      I’m not worried yet, as my attorney said this would most likely happen. I have 3 doctors ready to certify me unable to do any work, so I think it is only a matter of time. My attorney has stated if you need to take more than 4 or 5 days a month off, you are completely disabled, and I certainly meet this test!

      Hope you all have a great day!

      Hutch

    • Anonymous
      August 20, 2006 at 12:44 am

      Hutch,

      SS puts a dollar amount on what “productive” work is, as well as how much (in hours and days) you can do.

      I would think that your attorney’s statement would refer to the fact that if you are out of your job sick that much time, you would probably be fired. Not being able to work on a consistent basis could make you unemployable. And you need to certify that it has affected you and will affect you constantly over a 12 mointh period. Many people with CIDP who are relapse/ remitting have the biggest problem with this part. In between attacks they recover enough to be able to work, hence the condition is not disabling for 12 continuous months. This was one of my stumbling blocks, until I sent documentation from my neuro that my condition was permanent. Just one of the issues dealing with a disease that has different paths.

      If SS thinks you can make a productive wage doing ANY job, they will deny you. If they think you can be retrained to do something else, they will deny you. It is diffeent from Workman’s comp disability, which says you can be disabled from the job you used to do and receive benefits. I was a Golf Pro in my employable days. Certainly I cannot perform at a professional level anymore, but I had to prove to SS that I couldn’t do ANY work, not just Golf Professional jobs and duties.

      I am on your side, keep up the pressure. Stay on top of your case. I have seen so many situations go bad because someone trusted someone else to stay on top of a situation and they didn’t.

      Take care
      Dick S

    • Anonymous
      August 20, 2006 at 1:28 pm

      Hi,

      I was thinking as Dick when I read your post. Sounds to me that this denial falls right into the ‘will you be disabled 12 months or longer’ catogory. Which is one of the 4 main qualifiers. Often just a matter of sentence structure, and wording, from your doctor’s report to them. Doesn’t matter to SS what your doctor thinks about your ability to work, it’s how long they are willing to stand behind their statements, which has to be a year at minimum. A doctor has to say this person ‘WILL’ be disabled longer then a year, not maybe, probably, could be, and so on, as well as this person can’t preform any meaningful employment. The first thing to ask for from your doctor is a copy of the statement he provided SS. Then when you see written words not matching up to the verbal words he told you in an office visit, could possably point you to the only stumbling block causing denials. I know for a fact, that will be the first place your lawyer will look, and if they find what I describe, they ask the doc, or they get a doc, to rewrite it for you. The main reason too, why you see SS lawyers advertising on TV to bring that scary denial to them. Easy pickins. A screener of SS cases, because of the major work load on them in this agency, skims right over everything looking for exact words meeting the basic qualifiers. They know exactly which box, or statement to look at to find them, or where they should be, and when not read or seen, bam, into the denial basket. There’s no neuroligist spending hours pouring over the little neuances in every individual case putting all the puzzle pieces together for you to make a determination. They don’t go there until the fight is on. The SS agency approves over 66,000 cases per month. Based on that figure, how many cases do you think might have been denied in a month? I figure at least 4 times that many in that same month. Agin, another reason you see TV adds from SS lawyers. A treasure trove to them. The first thing to think about when a person applies is, how can I make sure everything is in order, to get it past the beurocrats, an onto a desk that leads to the approval line. My problem solving ways are to first simplify everything, strip it right down to the basics, and see if, or where, things went south. Kind of like a major league baseball player who when in a slump, finds that it’s always a basic fundemental learned in little league as a kid, that went wrong. Simple correction, and back to parking the ball over the fence. Do what you have to do, because financial health obviously plays a huge role in our situations, and has to be right at the top of priorities. I hope you get sucsessful in any way. That’s the main thing. You don’t even have to ask your doc.You can call their office, ask for record keeping, and request that doctor statement to SS from your med files, and recieve it in the mail in a week. Just for drill sake, so you can really see just how much the doctor is supporting you in written word. Simple wording, or lack of the right words SS wants to see to meet basic qualifiers to get entrance into the system, often times is the hangup.

    • Anonymous
      August 20, 2006 at 9:58 pm

      I am just starting with a new neuro at Virginia Mason in Seattle. He has only seen me 2 times, but has commented that he believes that I am totally disabled at this point, but we need to make a case for SS. I go back this coming Friday for some more testing. I have faith that he will be “in my corner” as long as he is satisfied that the diagnosis is correct. I am not the first person that he has on SS, so I believe he knows the ropes. As a backup, my attorney, is a SS disability specialist who has been at this for many years.

      I appreciate all the comments as they will give me the knowledge to ask the correct questions of both the doctors and the attorney.

      Thanks,

      Hutch