My mistake was not getting a lawyer for the first 2 years of my SSDI case

I thought I could handle the SSDI paperwork myself since I'm pretty organized with numbers at my accounting job. But after getting denied twice I finally talked to a disability lawyer in Columbus and she pointed out my medical records were missing all the functional limitations worksheets. She asked me when I last walked more than 200 feet without resting and I realized my own doctor never wrote that stuff down. Has anyone else found that having a lawyer made a big difference in how the ALJ looked at your case?

4 comments

4 Comments

nguyen.morgan13d ago

Nothing like paying someone to tell you your own doctor dropped the ball.

aaron_mitchell13d ago

What lawyer did you use and how long did it take to get your approval?

sethfoster13d ago

The disability lawyer in Columbus probably charged you a fee capped at 25% of back pay, but that's only if you win, not hourly. Ngl, that's a pretty standard setup and most people don't realize the cap exists. Honestly, what they're really doing is translating your medical records into the language the SSA wants to see like functional limitations and residual functional capacity forms. Your doctor might be a good doctor but they don't know what evidence the ALJ needs to approve a case. Tbh, that's the biggest thing I see people mess up thinking their medical records speak for themselves when they usually don't.

ivan_murphy8010d ago

My first denial letter came in at like 47 pages and I just threw it in a drawer thinking it was boilerplate. Then my lawyer found out my primary care doc had been writing "patient reports difficulty walking" for two years without ever running a single actual test like a gait analysis or even timing me on a short walk. She said the SSA wants numbers not feelings. I remember sitting in her office and she asked me to describe a typical morning and I said I take four rests just to make a cup of coffee and she wrote that down like it was gold. Its wild how your own doctor misses the simple stuff like how many times you sit down in an hour or how far you can carry a gallon of milk. That lawyer basically taught my doctor how to be an expert witness which is something I never would have thought to do myself.