Catatonic Schizophrenia

According to the American Psychological Association, catatonic schizophrenia is a relatively rare subtype of schizophrenia that is characterized by abnormal motor activity, specifically, motor immobility.  WebMD includes not moving or talking, and staring at and ignoring others, as the typical symptoms.  It should be obvious that a person afflicted with catatonic schizophrenia cannot work in any type of full time capacity. 

We represent a 54 year old healthcare aide from Smithtown with catatonic schizophrenia.  We provided the State agency with reports from three mental health providers who diagnosed the claimant with catatonic schizophrenia, and described why her condition precluded any type of sustainable employment.  At the State agency’s request, we even provided a consultative examination from the claimant’s psychiatric nurse practitioner.  Nonetheless, it still took over a year for the State agency to approve the claimant’s Social Security Disability (“SSD”) application.

While we applaud the SSD approval, we are disappointed that it took so long for the claimant to receive benefits with all of our prodding.  Without our prodding, who knows how long our claimant's case would have sat at the State agency.  No doubt, the State agency will attribute the delay to the COVID pandemic.

Please don't hesitate to call our office for a free phone consultation if you are thinking about applying for disability.  We have offices located on Long Island in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Support Letters

When the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) decodified the treating physician rule, the new regulations called for greatest emphasis for supportability and consistency.  The more a medical opinion is consistent with other evidence, the more persuasive it will be found.

Evidence includes statements from anyone who has observed a claimant.  We represent a 53 year old clerk from Ronkonkoma with neck and head injuries from a motor vehicle accident.  We supplied disability opinions and a great deal of objective diagnostic evidence of musculoskeletal injuries.  Nonetheless, it was not until we submitted support letters from friends and relatives that the SSA approved disability benefits.

Support letters are evidence from non-medical sources that the SSA must consider.  They corroborate the opinions of the treating medical sources.  Consequently, the support letters make the opinions of the treating medical sources more consistent with the evidence compared to the opinions of the non-treating medical sources.

Our client was ecstatic to learn that she had been approved, and said she was so impressed with our handling of her claim and our knowledge of what was needed to get her a favorable decision.  She said she would highly recommend our services to anyone she knows, who might need to apply for disability.

Please feel free to call our office for a free phone consultation if you are considering applying for disability .  We have offices on Long Island conveniently located in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

 

State Agency Doctors

During the first two levels of review for a Social Security Disability (“SSD”) application, the State agency basically has its doctors deciding the claim.  The State agency doctors frequently lack the credentials or qualifications to evaluate a claimant’s impairments.  Therefore, Social Security attempts to insulate the opinions of State agency doctors by refusing to disclose their full names.

Although federal courts rarely accept the opinions of the State agency medical consultants, administrative law judges (“ALJs”) frequently rely on those opinions to deny SSD benefits.  Fortunately, ALJ Crawley is not one of them.

We represent a 54 year old financial analyst from North Babylon with severe back and knee impairments.  His SSD application was at the first two levels of review based upon the opinions of the State agency doctors, who asserted the claimant could perform light work.  ALJ Crawley rejected those opinions in favor of the claimant’s physiatrist for two reasons.  First, the opinions of State agency doctors were unpersuasive because they were based on a review of the record, and not a direct examination of the claimant.  Second, those opinions were obtained before significant evidence was available for review, which rendered them less relevant in assessing the claimant’s functioning.

If you are considering applying for disability benefits, it is in your best interest to retain an attorney who specializes in disability.  You can call our office for a free phone consultation.  Our offices are conveniently located on Long Island in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

 

Lung Cancer Approval

We represent a service manager from Shirley, who unfortunately has Stage 4 lung cancer.  By promptly alerting the right representatives at Social Security, and submitting the medical information to qualify for expedited processing, we succeeded in getting benefits approved in 2.5 months.

Delays in processing Social Security applications are well documented.  Knowing how, and being willing, to navigate the Social Security application process from inception is important to ensuring that late stage cancer claims get expedited.

DDS Inconsistency

 

The State agency makes the initial decision on Social Security Disability (“SSD”) applications.  When we advised the State agency that our 24 year old claimant from Uniondale with back problems would not attend a consultative examination (“CE”) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the State agency agreed that the treating spine specialist could do the CE.  The specialist provided the very information that the State agency requested, yet it denied the claimant’s SSD application anyway.

The administrative law judge (“ALJ”) found the evidence regarding the claimant’s spine impairments compelling, and promptly approved SSD benefits.  The State agency received the exact information that it had requested, and it all supported the claimant’s SSD application. One can only surmise that the State agency gave no regard to the medical evidence because it had predetermined to reject the claim of a 24 year old.

If you are thinking about applying for SSD benefits, it's in your best interest to retain an attorney who specializes in disability.  For more information, please call my office for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located on Long Island in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

ALJ Schriver Reversed

We received a federal court decision today that reversed the denial of Social Security disability (“SSD”) benefits by administrative law judge (“ALJ”) Robert Schriver.

We represent a 50 year old title reader from Bellerose Manor with fibromyalgia.  The ALJ rejected the opinion of the treating rheumatologist that the claimant lacked a sedentary residual functional capacity (“RFC”) because of the fibromyalgia.  We argued that the ALJ impermissibly relied upon his own lay judgment in lieu of medical opinions when concluding the claimant had the RFC for full time work.  The federal district court agreed.

The judge ruled that because the ALJ is a layperson, not a doctor, he is not permitted to interpret raw medical information into an RFC without the assistance of a medical professional’s insight.  The court added that, “Because an RFC determination is a medical determination, an ALJ who makes an RFC determination in the absence of supporting expert medical opinion has improperly substituted his own opinion for that of a physician, and has committed legal error.”

The most noteworthy part of the decision was that the judge highlighted the importance of the treating physician's opinion even after the repeal of the treating physician rule.

It's important to note, that when you hire an attorney to represent you with a Social Security Disability claim,  you should confirm that he/she has the credentials to take your case to Federal Court, if the need should arise.  Please contact our office for a free phone consultation if you are considering filing for disability.  Our offices are conveniently located on Long Island in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

The Wait is Over

We filed a Social Security Disability (“SSD”) for a claimant from Brooklyn with depression over 5.5 years ago.  After administrative denials, we appealed in federal court, and succeeded in obtaining a reversal.  On remand, the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) asked a medical expert (“ME”) and a vocational expert (“VE”) to testify.

At the hearing, after the ME testified that the claimant met a listing, the ALJ ended the hearing without any testimony from the VE, which means SSD benefits will be approved.  Today we received the Fully Favorable Decision; however, the notice of award (“NOA”) that details the benefits that are due and the lump sum past due benefits can take many months to get, especially when the claim involves a federal court remand.

Our claimant is ecstatic that he was approved, and grateful that we fought so hard for him.  If you are thinking about applying for disability, please call my office for a free phone consultation.  Our offices are conveniently located on Long Island in Nassau and Suffolk counties.