SSD Approved in 2 Months

I represent a 55 year old sewer superintendent with abdominal and hiatal hernias, glaucoma, diabetes, obesity, and lastly, an ankle problem. The state agency insisted, not once, but twice, that it was “necessary” for the claimant to attend a consultative examination (“CE”) for a “joint problem;” that he “must keep” that appointment. 

We advised the State agency that the claimant wanted his treating doctor to perform the CE, as the regulations stipulate. The claimant did not have a CE, yet his application for Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits was approved in two months, a few weeks after the State agency told the claimant that he had to go to the CE. 

When will the State agency on its own, or at the direction of the Social Security Administration (“SSA”), eliminate the misrepresentative language of the letters notifying claimants about CEs? The notices should not say the CEs are “necessary.” The notices should not say the claimant “must” attend the CE. Most importantly, when will the State agency, or the SSA, require compliance with the regulations that provide CEs should be performed by treating doctors?