State Agency Doctors

Since the last Century, the case law in Social Security Disability (“SSD”) appeals has been crystal clear – the opinions of doctors “who have not personally examined the claimant deserve little weight.” Nonetheless, when an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) wants to deny a case, they frequently rely on the opinion of the non-examining State agency medical consultant as the basis for the decision. 

We represent a 57 year old former controller from Howard Beach with Parkinson’s disease. ALJ Pecoraro, who approved the claimant’s SSD application today, stated that the opinions of the non-examining State agency medical consultants were not persuasive. The ALJ reasoned that because additional evidence was produced after the consultants’ document review, their opinions were not based upon a complete record, and therefore were of little probative value. 

As intimated above, many ALJs are predisposed to deny SSD claims. You can learn if an ALJ is predisposed to deny your SSD claim by checking out their approval rate here. An ALJ with a low approval rate that is predisposed to deny your SSD claim would have found that the opinions of the non-examining State agency medical consultants were persuasive, despite the law clearly being to the contrary. 

Knowing the Social Security case law is critical to preparing your claim, and appealing it all the way to federal court if necessary. When retaining a disability attorney to handle your SSD claim, be sure to ask them about the extent of their experience litigating these matters.  Please call my office staff for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located on Long Island in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

SSD Approved in 1 Week

We represent a 60 year old former automotive finance manager from Glen Cove with a very serious medical condition. The good news is that, because our Long Island offices focus exclusively on disability benefit law, we recognized his medical condition would qualify for a rapid compassionate allowance of Social Security Disability benefits based on his meeting a listing. We submitted the objective diagnostic evidence demonstrating that the criteria for the listing and compassionate allowance were satisfied with the application. 

We hope that the immediate approval of SSD benefits will persuade the claimant’s disability insurance carrier, Mutual of Omaha, to act expeditiously to approve benefits too. 

Our office has been able to obtain SSD benefits for many other disability claimants quickly compared to the national averages.  For the convenience of our Long Island clients, and potential clients, we have offices in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

SS Benefits in Danger

There have been multiple articles and segments on the news in the recent week, warning the American people of the proposed changes to Social Security Disability, Medicare and Food stamps. Because we never know when we might these services, these changes will affect every single one of us.

Proposed Changes to SS and Medicare

This article is important for people to read if they are receiving Social Security Disability benefits, or Medicare benefits. Neither of these programs are entitlement programs. They are self funded programs that we, the taxpayers, have paid into. According to this article, we may have our benefits cut. For the people who have SSD cases pending, or are thinking about applying, the proposed budget cuts would have a great impact on the length of time it would take to get their benefits approved.

6 Years for Approval

We represent a claimant from Copiague whose application for Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits had been denied after a hearing based on the testimony of a discredited medical expert. Last year, a federal district court judge in New York ordered a new hearing for the claimant. Today, after a six year struggle, the claimant was found entitled to receive SSD benefits back to May 2014. 

While we hope for the best, we always prepare for the worst. That means preparing every case as if it will have to be appealed in court. And when we represent a claimant, we will go to court if necessary. 

Our litigation experience helps us prepare the best possible factual record to present in court, which is important because it is rare when a judge will permit the introduction of new evidence. Litigation experience is also important because you need to understand what the legal theories will be in court in order to know what evidence will be required to support those theories.

It is not easy to find a SSD attorney with litigation experience.  If you want to retain a SSD attorney, who specializes in disability benefits law and has a lot of litigation experience, please contact our office for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located on Long Island in Nassau and Suffolk counties.