By the time most Social Security disability cases make it to hearings, files contain hundreds, sometimes thousands of pages of medical records from multiple providers going back years.
Despite this, it’s not uncommon for claimants with lengthy files to be denied. In some rare cases, even when a large file is submitted to Social Security, examiners, and even judges will declare that a claimant doesn’t have any severe medical impairments at all. Essentially, the law is declaring that they’re perfectly healthy.
How is such a result possible? Well, the answer is that quality is often more important than quantity when it comes to disability.
Even with regular treatment, it’s not uncommon for doctors to more or less copy and paste notes from visit to visit. New complaints and symptoms are ignored. Evaluations that were done years prior are never followed up on.
This is all common practice in the medical field. Unfortunately, it can be devastating for a Social Security disability case.
If you’re applying for disability, it’s important to request your medical records early and check them for accuracy. If you find that symptoms are not being noted, you need to follow up with your providers and ensure that the things you’re telling them are being added to your file.
And while the stubbornness of doctors and insurance companies can make it extremely difficult, it’s also important to push for as much objective testing as possible. Social Security will give little consideration to an x-ray or MRI taken years before your onset date. New imaging can literally make or break cases.
