What is the best type of evidence when applying for Disability Benefits?
What is the best type of evidence when applying for Disability Benefits?
At Sharon Christie Law, a Baltimore Social Security Disability Law Firm, we are often asked the question, what is the best type of evidence for Disability Benefits? In this video, Sharon Christie examines this question and helps provide answers to what is the best type of evidence to gather when applying for Social Security Disability Benefits.
Official Transcript: What is the best type of evidence when applying for Disability Benefits?
Hi I’m Sharon Christie your nurse attorney for social security disability benefits. Evidence in these cases is extremely important. People have asked me well what’s the best evidence I can have?
Let’s start with medical records. Meaning you need to be seeing doctors for evaluations and treatment. Within those records the cases that really are the strongest and in many cases are the easiest to win from my point of view; are the ones where we have what’s called objective evidence. You have herniated discs and have an MRI that shows it and you’ve had surgery. Yet that has not relieved the problem and there are subsequent MRIs that show that there are ongoing problems. Or you’ve had X-Rays or CAT scans.
Let’s say you have a brain injury and you may have had at some point some bleeding into the brain. You’re going to see that on a CAT scan. Then you’re going to have follow up testing. In the case of a brain injury you’re probably going to have what’s called neuropsychological testing. So, we have concrete test results and those are just some examples.
In cases where we have really concrete test results that can show the nature of your problem and the severity of your problem. That’s the best evidence we can get.
Not all cases are like that as you can imagine. Mental health cases are one great example of a case where we don’t have any tests that can show how much depression someone has or how much schizophrenia someone has or how severe it is. We don’t have those kinds of tests that we can rely on. So, in those cases we have to rely heavily of course on the medical records, but they contain mostly subjective evidence. You are telling your doctor what’s wrong. You are telling your doctor what limitations you have. You are explaining to your doctor how you are doing day to day and what limits you have in terms of how active you can be. That’s subjective evidence because that’s you describing to your doctor what’s happening and then your doctor makes some decisions and conclusions based on that.
That’s the evidence we have in many cases and we don’t have objective evidence as I described before. The strongest evidence we can have is the objective evidence. That really does help us in so many cases to be successful. If that’s a case where that applies to you and it’s recommended that you have certain tests, an MRI, an X-Ray, that type of thing. If you’re financially able to do it then you absolutely want to do that because it can be extremely helpful in your case.
The Path to Social Security Disability Benefits with Sharon Christie Law
Step 1: Understanding Social Security’s Definition of Disabled
The definition of disabled, according to Social Security, is that you have severe limitations from your health problems that keep you from doing any kind of work for at least 12 consecutive months. This is the first thing we look at when evaluating your case. Your diagnosis is just the starting point. To get disability benefits for you, we must prove that your disabling condition causes severe limitations in your day to day activities.
Step 2: Medical Records in Your Disability Case
You must have medical evidence to prove your disability case. The most important evidence is your medical records that show your diagnosis, your symptoms, and your response to treatment.
Step 3: Don’t go it alone: How Sharon Christie Law Can Help You
At Sharon Christie Law, a Social Security Disability Law Firm, we recognize that no one ever plans to get so sick that they have to stop working. When you need to apply for Social Security Disability Benefits we recognize that you will be anxious about the process and whether you can qualify for disability benefits. Our goal at Sharon Christie Law is to help you win your case and give you the financial stability you need! Why work with us?
We do it all for you: At Sharon Christie Law we handle all aspects of the case for you, from preparing and filing your application through the hearing with a judge. We are with you every step of the way. When working with us, you focus on feeling better, and we focus on winning your case.
We return your phone calls: We understand that you have many questions regarding Social Security Disability Benefits. We never want you to wonder what is happening with your case. We are here to answer your questions. All phone calls and emails are returned within 24 hours. That is our promise to you.
We believe in client education: The Social Security Disability process is confusing. We think it is important that you understand each step in the process. So, we created a section on our website that is accessible only to clients. This client’s only section tells you everything you need to know about the disability process.