Presenting your doctor’s opinion about your disability in your Greenville Social Security case

When you pursue a claim for Greenville Social Security disability benefits you will find that one of the most important parts of the claim is the opinion of your doctor about the nature and severity of your impairment.

When you first apply for Greenville Social Security disability benefits, you provide some basic information about your medical treatment, and the Social Security Administration attempts to gather your medical records for its file. If your initial application is denied (and most initial applications are denied) then you will probably work with a Greenville Social Security lawyer who will take on the task of making sure that your doctor’s opinion is properly presented to the Social Security Administration.

The Social Security Administration’s method of gathering medical information

The Social Security Administration gathers medical information from treating sources in a variety of ways. Sometimes it merely requests copies of office notes and test results. Sometimes it sends detailed questions to medical providers. Sometimes a state agency physician telephones your treating doctor and writes down what is said in a “report of contact.”

This last system, where a state agency physician prepares a “report of contact” based on a phone call to your doctor, can cause problems because sometimes that type of report may contain implicit or explicit conclusions that your doctor did not intend. If this has happened then your Greenville Social Security attorney will need to make a strategy decision about how to handle this misleading “report of contact.”

Getting a written report rather than having your doctor testify as a witness

The best way to present your doctor’s opinion about your disability to the Social Security Administration is to have your doctor appear as a live witness in front of the Administrative Law Judge at your appeal hearing. Unfortunately, most doctors have difficulty fitting an appearance at a hearing into their busy schedules, so this is rarely feasible.

There are various alternative ways that Greenville Social Security lawyers use to get in the evidence of your doctor’s opinion about your case. One of the more common ones is to use a form letter request to your doctor for a medical report that asks the doctor to address all the elements identified in the Social Security Administration’s regulations. A good doctor’s medical report should include:

  • Medical history.
  • Clinical findings (such as the results of physical or mental status examinations).
  • Laboratory findings (such as blood pressure, x-rays).
  • Diagnosis (statement of disease or injury based on its signs and symptoms).
  • Treatment prescribed with response, and prognosis.
  • A statement about what you can still do despite your impairment(s).

Reports from Veterans Administration doctors

Getting a medical report from a VA doctor can be more difficult than getting reports from other doctors.

There was a time in the past when the Veterans Administration had a policy that prohibited Veterans Administration doctors from completing reports for use in Social Security disability cases. That is no longer the policy, and Veterans Administration doctors are supposed to complete such reports at your request, but actually getting a Veterans Administration doctor to complete a form can still be slow and difficult. Your lawyer may even ask you to make the request directly because your Veterans Administration doctor may respond to you more willingly than to your lawyer.

Let me help present your disability evidence to the Social Security Administration

One of the most valuable ways I help my South Carolina or Greenville Social Security disability clients is by working with their doctors to make sure that the Social Security Administration has a clear and accurate statement of their doctor’s opinion about their disability and how it affects their ability to work.

If you want my help with your South Carolina or Greenville Social Security disability hearing or any other aspect of your claim for benefits, provide a brief description of your claim using the form to your right or contact me at:

Stephen Yacobi
Greenville Social Security lawyer

E-mail
Phone 864-242-3271
Fax 864-233-3750

408 N. Church St.
Greenville, South Carolina 29601