This feature appears from time to time as a means of illustrating the challenges that many applicants for social security disability benefits experience, in their efforts to be approved. These challenges include the many levels of decision-making for a social security disability claim (Initial application, Reconsideration, Hearing, Appeals Council, Federal Court), the specific issues raised by alcohol and drugs, the need to demonstrate that you cannot do past work or sometimes, any work at all, and the like. Cases are derived from actual clients I have represented but their names, details and key facts are changed to protect privacy.
“I’ve never been so tired before.”
John, a Boston native clad in a Red Sox cap and t-shirt, described how he lost his job as an urban planner in the 2008 recession and had not been employed since then. “Look, I tried applying for jobs back in ‘08 and ‘09, but then I started to get sick. It took ‘em a while to figure out what was wrong with me,” he explained. “I thought I just had a cold or bad allergies, but then I started seeing double.”
“I went in for an eye appointment a few months ago and the eye doc said right away that I needed to see a neurologist – thought it was probably MS. Sure enough, my doc confirmed with some pictures of my brain.”
“Now I’ve got all these drugs I have to take for my MS and boy, do they knock me out the day after I go in for my treatment! I mean, they help with the symptoms of the MS but I’m exhausted. The worst part is I’ve got these injections Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If only they were just once a week!”
“He is a completely different person now,” said Frank, John’s longtime friend and colleague. “He used to be energetic, always working in his yard or on some other project. But when I got lunch with him the other day he could barely make it through the meal. He was so tired he went straight home and took a nap.”
The lawyer’s view:
John’s case posed some difficult questions:
1. The symptoms of John’s MS began much earlier than his official diagnosis. Would the judge approve him for benefits all the way back to the onset of his symptoms?
2. The injections John receives to treat his MS do improve the symptoms of the disease, but the side effects of the medication still keep John from being able to work. Would the judge take into consideration the side effects of his medication?
3. John has only tried one type of MS medication. Is there another medication that would not cause such severe side effects? Will John be required to try that first?
4. John is only fifty years old and has a master’s degree. This means that Social Security can also determine whether John can do jobs outside of urban planning.
What Happened?
At hearing:
1. We obtained a letter from the doctor who treats his MS attesting to both the MS symptoms and the side effects of the medication. While his doctor did suggest alternative medications with potentially different side effects, she also stated that: 1) There’s no guarantee that the alternative medications wouldn’t cause fatigue as well; and 2) John has some permanent neurological issues as a result of the MS that will affect his ability to concentrate and stay on task. His doctor also stated that continued vision problems would make even sedentary work difficult.
2. John’s friend, Joe, wrote a letter where he described the fatigue he had personally observed and the limitations he has seen John experience since his symptoms and treatment began.
John had originally filed his application stating that the onset of disability was when he started experiencing symptoms of MS, which was months before his official diagnosis. However, the judge decided that his condition was not disabling until he was officially diagnosed. As a result, the judge granted John benefits but only going back to a new onset date set as the date of his official diagnosis.
We won this case.