Quick Question about disability

Hi there...

For those that have already gone through the process and approved. Did you all print out the RFC (Residual Functional Capacity) forms and bring them to your Dr. to fill out? Or was this sent directly from SS to the Dr.?

I am reading conflicting things online where it says either way.

Thanks:)

SSD had me fill them out and send them directly to them, my doctor(s) were never involved with that

This is the report that is filled out if they send you to one of their Drs. SSA does not sent it to your Dr. If you want it filled out by your Dr., you will have to print one out and take it to them.

Confusing. I never had to go to one of their doctors at any point. And SSD told me repeatedly, that they would not contact my doctors directly, because they couldnt know if the doctors and I were in co-hoots with one another.

david

That is strange David...They sent a lot of paperwork already to my Drs. to get copies of all my medical records since that is the only way to show all the health issues I have going on. They won't allow you to send your own medical records as they are afraid people will change them or take things out.

I just had my PM appt. this week and he went over some of the things with me. Because my Neurosurgeon is in the same office, I walked over to make sure they got the same requests. Thankfully I only had to pay one $10 (the office fee) for filling out things and making copies to send to SS from both Drs. and all the years that I have been going there.


How did SS get all your medical records?

Snow, they did have my permission (signed release) to secure all my medical records, so that was no problem. When I got my first rejection, they indicated they didn't see enough to justify approval. I had filled out the form that showed my limitations. Based on their findings, in the rejection letter, they claimed I could do all these type of physical things that would have been impossible in my condition. I remembered how much this angered me. While I was attempting my first appeal, I was assigned a SSD agent in Baltimore, we spoke often by phone. I told her that they needed to talk to my doctors themselves, and that's when they said that they weren't allowed to, that they were basing their opinion on my records alone. This was before I secured my SSD attorney..

Once I got the lawyer, everything changed fast, this was after my 2nd denial.


Ladym,

Yes, I got fully appproved within 3 or 4 months of getting an attorney. We were about 2-3 weeks away from going before the board ( or whatever you call it), when I got a surprise phone call. One morning, my attorney called me up early, and said, "I am shocked, the judge (or whatever they call them) just approved your claim."
Even my attorney didn't have to go before the judge. She said that rarely happens.

In the end, this judge, not only approved my claim, but she (yes, a woman judge too) said that it was wrong for SSD to fool around for so long (more than 2 1/2 years), and that my case was a "no brainer" as she said, and that it was so obvious that I was totally disabled. She said to punish them (SSD), she moved the date of my claim not to the time I filed ( which is the norm), but all the way back to the day I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. So my back-pay was huge, which made the lawyer happy as she got the max. amount allowed for her fees.

And because she back-dated it, I had already met the waiting time for Medicare to kick in, and my Medicare was effective immediately. It was a long tough fight, but I won. Also, the judge wrote the summary, where I never have to be re-examined (or whatever the proper term is) by a doctor again, that I was considered perm. disabled.

My lawyer said, that was mostly because of my age when I was approved, which was 59. I would have qualified for max. SS anyway on my 62nd birthday. She said sometimes, with older people applying for SSD, they knew they were like me, fully vested into the SS system because I had 42 years of work history.

david

David, that is amazing, I am so glad everything worked out for you, but sorry it took so long. I am only 48 so mine will be much harder. I did get a lawyer, and he appealed it. I was not diagnosed with fibromyalgia until a year after applying for SSDI. I applied last May. Yes age does play a big part in approval and denial, but with cancer alone, it should have been appoved immediately. Just goes to show you what SSA is like. I had told my lawyer that I am pretty sure I could do part time work, but not all the heavy lifting that I have done my entire life. I don't think I could make it though an entire day, as I can't seem to do that at home. SSA says I can do sedentary work, because of my age. I have never done any kind of office work in my life, but they don't care about that. Who would ever hire me?...what a joke!!

Ladym,

I should clarify an important part of my story. SSD would have never approved me on the basis of having Advanced Prostate Cancer alone, or the fact that I surived 3 previous serious cancer bouts. Not to sound cold, but they cared nothing about that. While fighting the Prostate Cancer, I had surgery first - it failed to stop the cancer within 9 months. So I underwent aggressive radiation treatments, and the radiation was not done correctly, and as a result, it burned my bladder and bladder neck so severely, that I ended up needing an urostomy (bladder by-pass). ALso because of the severe radiation damage, it caused extensive nerve damage in my hips, prostate bed, upper legs, and lower back, which is considered perm in nature - thus the basis of my chronic pain.

So my SSD was approved for the radiation damage, not the actual cancer itself. Go figure that. When they first denied me, they sent a letter claiming that I could stand for 8 hours a day, lift 70 lbs, etc. Stupid stuff like that - and really amusing since they never saw or met me. At that time, couldn't even safely lift 10 lbs, and I am in pain if I am on my feet more than 10-15 minutes at the time. My surgeon and oncologist were more than willing to set them straight, but they refused to speak directly to them.

I think that is why the sympathetic judge I was assigned was so disgusted with the findings of SSD. For me it worked out, I feel for the thousands that are still being denied or stuck in endless and lengthy fights.

It's not the hand out that some political people think it is, I paid into the system for 42 years, always worked hard, it is an entitlement in a sense, but one that any of us that pay into the SS system are entitled to. End of my speech, lol.

david

No, I am in western SC, the person from SS that I was assigned to was in Baltimore.

Thanks so much Trudy:)