Form Over Substance

A 54 year old sanitation worker from North Babylon with various orthopedic impairments retained us after his Social Security Disability ("SSD") application was denied. Nothing unusual about the case except that we filed over 2,000 pages of treatment records, much of which were hospital records.  The substance of the file was not unlike many similar claims that were denied by the State agency.  It may be that regardless of the materiality of the documentation submitted, when a very large volume of paper is filed, the State agency feels more confident about the credibility of the claim.

This is another example of why it is important to retain a disability attorney when you apply for SSD.  Even though it may seem obvious to you that you are disabled, you cannot get approved without support from your doctors.  An attorney who specializes in disability can discern what information is needed from your doctors to get your claim approved.  If you are thinking about applying for SSD, please call my office for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located on Long Island in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

 

Superior Service at Melville

We have posted blogs about the ineptness of some of the Social Security district offices. But we also like to give credit, where credit is due. I called the Melville district office today regarding a claim that we had recently filed, and was lucky enough to reach Mrs. Craven who works there. Not only did Mrs. Craven fix the mistake that someone else made when processing our client's claim, but she also went out of her way to correct a mistake that was made by someone at the Patchogue district office, who was incapable of correcting their mistake. This is not the first time that Mrs. Craven has helped me, and I hope it won't be the last. She is professional, courteous, and most of all, she knows what she's doing. Problems that pose a particular issue for other representatives she is able to fix in a few minutes. Why can't we expect every SSA representative to perform as well as she. We greatly appreciate Mrs. Craven's knowledge and help, and hope that others can follow her example. Thank you Mrs. Craven.

by Susan Golden