Your doctor's opinion is the most important evidence in your Social Security disability application or appeal. It is more important than medical records, consultative reports, statements by friends or even the opinion of Social Security's own doctor.
Especially if you are headed for an appeal of your disability benefits, your doctor's opinion is essential and vital. Some things you should know:
1) Social Security will not request your doctor's opinion. You or your representative must do so on your own initiative.
2) Social Security may send you to one of their consulting doctors for an examination. Usually, it isn't worth the paper it's written on. It is most often used to deny your benefits.
3) You doctor's opinion must meet certain evidentiary requirements. The doctor may not ssimply say that you are disabled or that you aren't able to work. The doctor must gives the specific reasons why you can't work in functional terms: limitations in sitting, standing, walking, lifting, bending, concentrating, remembering, understanding, etc. Only Social Security can reach the decision that you are disabled. There is a form I like to use for doctor's opinions.
WHY YOUR DOCTOR'S OPINION IS SO IMPORTANT
1) It may be the only opinion in your file. If so, it is the opinion Social Security will probably rely on to decide your case. If you were denied, many times the decision to deny benefits was made by a "single decision maker" or SDM. This is a Social Security employee who is not a doctor. In a hearing or appeal, her opinion cannot even be considered. However, your doctor's opinion will be considered.
2) Your own doctor has examined and treated you; therefore, is in the best position to understand your conditions, symptoms and limitations. Even if Social Security sends you to one of their consulting doctors for an exam, it is a one-time encounter with a doctor who has never seen you before. It will last 20 to 30 minutes. This is a very limited exposure to a doctor who knows nothing about you. Your doctor's opinion is worth a lot more weight.
3) Most judges value the opinion of a doctor who has treated you over a long period of time, as opposed to one who only saw you once. A lot of judges will ask the attorney/representative, "Do you have any opinion evidence form a treating doctor?" They look for it because they know that a treating doctor knows the claimant's symptoms and limitations.
Judges will vary in their preferences and, while they follow the same set of rules, will conduct hearings differently. Your representative will know what evidence to present, how to present it and how to most effectively argue your case. ("Argue" here means to "present" or "make a case for...").
If you are a member of the armed forces, or a recently disabled veteran who needs Social Security disability benefits, please contact my firm in Huntsville. We will work closely with you to gather medical evidence and opinions, develop your case and present it to the proper authorities for a resolution.
We will never ask you for money.
When your claim is decided in your favor, Social Security will withhold the fee you have agreed to pay us and send it to us directly--based on the amount of your back pay. If you do not receive back pay, there will never be a fee for any service we provide.
Social Security Justice - Website
Call US: (256) 799-0297
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