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Domain #5 – Caring for Self

If a child has a severe impairment(s) that does not meet or medically equal any listing, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will then look to see if the child functionally equals the listings.  To functionally equal the listing, the child’s impairments must result in marked limitations in two domains, or extreme limitation in one domain.

The fourth domain used by SSA is called 5. Caring for Self.  In this domain, SSA will focus on how well the child takes care of themselves, physically and mentally.  As children age, they should become more independent with regards to making their own decisions.  Children should be able to know the difference between what is right and wrong.  They should understand what their physical and emotional needs are and how to control their thoughts and maintain their well-being.

For more information, please contact one of the attorneys at Hoglund, Chwialkowski & Mrozik.

Written by Hoglund Law

The attorneys of Hoglund law are licensed in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio. Hoglund, Chwialkowski & Mrozik, PLLC is based in Roseville, Minnesota. In addition to handling cases involving bankruptcy & social security, Hoglund, Chwialkowski & Mrozik, PLLC handles faulty drugs and toxic exposure.

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Can My Doctor Help Me Get My Social Security Disability Benefits?

Q & A with 20+ year Social Security Disability Attorney Andrew Kinney

Q: Can my doctor help me get my Social Security Disability benefits?
A: Yes! But perhaps not in the ways you would expect. I’ll explain.

In our law practice, we purposely do not interact with treating physicians. Our clients make their own health care choices. Our clients go to doctors because they want to get better, or at least improve their quality of life. We explain the law.
The Social Security Disability program is all about the medical evidence. Forget what you hear on TV. Talk is cheap. Regular medical treatment is important. Just as important, though, is developing a treating relationship with certain medical doctors you know and trust. When you treat properly with physicians you know and trust, you create a bread trail of your problems.

This is where your physicians can help you further. Right after your next appointment, ask the doctor who knows you best these things:

1. “Doctor, can you please make sure you document my problems well?”
2. “Doctor, can you please make sure your treatment notes are clear about how I am limited?”
3. “Doctor, I had to apply for Social Security benefits. Would you mind if my attorney sends you a short form to fill out about my limitations?”

It is vitally important that your medical treatment notes document your ongoing medical problems. Attorney forms track Social Security law. While it is unusual for physicians to object to an honest, straightforward approach to your medical care, it can happen. Some physician practices, including the VA, try to avoid “forms,” but they complete them for insurance daily. Some physicians say that they cannot “decide disability,” but they are not. They are simply determining physical and mental limitations for their patients—something they lay out for working patients with injuries all the time. Finally, some physicians think their patients over 50 can still do “desk work.” That is fine. Depending on your past kind of work you can no longer do, the law can still be on your side. Ask an experienced attorney in this area of law.

Your medical providers are trying to make you better. Keep trying to get better, and document the truth about your medical problems. Your Social Security attorney will argue the rest.

Andrew Kinney, Esq., 12/1/15

Can You Lie to Get Social Security Disability Benefits?

Q:  Can you lie to get Social Security Disability benefits?

A:  This question gets to the heart of the misunderstanding about the Social Security Disability program.  Anyone can lie about anything to anyone.  The real question, then, is whether lying can actually secure Social Security Disability benefits.  The short answer:  No.

The public at large is generally unaware about the level of medical evidence necessary to prove disability under the Social Security regulations.  Just having a physical or mental diagnosis is insufficient.  Your limitations must preclude your ability to work under the law.  The law does not allow mere “claims” of disability to prove limitations.  Medical testing and examinations over time must establish significant impairments.

Lying to an MRI won’t impact the results.  Lying to a physician will not change objective examination findings.  Lying to a psychiatrist will likely land you back in the waiting room.  You can try to fake a limp or fabricate headaches, but medical doctors are scientists.  The lack of objective detail will ultimately do you in.

So just how difficult is it to “talk” your way into benefits?  Let’s consider a real life example of a client of mine today who wasn’t lying about anxiety, but nonetheless will be denied benefits.  I had a Social Security hearing today in which my client had significant anxiety.  The lower State Agency level ignored the regulations in failing to get a treating source opinion (nothing new).  A government-paid “medical expert” at my client’s hearing droned on and on to use time, yet misread the file, inferred chemical dependency without a diagnosis, ignored hard evidence of disability from a psychiatrist, and missed another psychological diagnosis altogether.  The point?  Even people telling the truth with sufficient evidence (in this case, anxiety that left her virtually homebound) have a difficult time meeting Social Security’s regulatory standards.

What should you take from this blog?  Those who are approved for Social Security Disability benefits have medical professionals who have diagnosed, examined, and treated them over time.  Offer to open the door for them, not throw them under the bus.  You or a loved one could need these benefits next.

Andrew Kinney, Esq.

 

Written by Hoglund Law

The attorneys of Hoglund law are licensed in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio. Hoglund, Chwialkowski & Mrozik, PLLC is based in Roseville, Minnesota. In addition to handling cases involving bankruptcy & social security, Hoglund, Chwialkowski & Mrozik, PLLC handles faulty drugs and toxic exposure.

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