Thought I would give you a back ground of my husbands case and many things we learned to do and NOT to do when dealing with SS.
My husband had a diving accident in June 2002. The social worker at the rehab hospital helped get us the forms to apply for SSDI. I might mention that he turned 30 while in rehab so was relatively young. His initial interview was in August. He got his first denial in Oct. Of course we immediately appealed.
We live in Indiana which is still one of the states that has another process before going in front of a judge.
The FIRST mistake we did was get a lawyer right after the first denial. I don't recommend this for ANYONE that lives in a state like mine. If you are denied the second time out there is still nearly a year or more before you are in front of a judge. That is when you should get the attorney. Up until that point the attorney really doesn't do anything but yet is entitled to 25% or 5,300$(whichever is less) of any back pay you are to receive. This lawyer told us that my husband had a 16% chance of getting approved.
After the first denial we waited a few months as we has some things going on but then we went on the defensive I guess some would say. We called that caseworker EVERY Monday morning. If she wasn't in we called until we got her or she returned our call. He finally got into the SS doctor and of course the next week we called and the caseworker said the doctor had 30 days to get in the paperwork. On day 31 we called. Then we were told that they needed more information from the doctor. At this point we were angry and husband even called the lawyers office. They called the caseworker and got the same story then was angry with my husband because he had already been told this. Literally besides meeting and retaining this was the ONLY time we even spoke to the attorney or his office in the whole process.
Besides keeping in contact with the caseworker the next RIGHT thing we did was contact our state rep. We had heard there was someone in his office that worked on these things. They sent off a letter asking where they were in the case. Within two weeks the case was in Chicago and two weeks later he was approved. We took all the info they wanted from us to the local office on a Thursday and the first back pay check was deposited on Monday.
Now, let me clarify it wasn't easy and it wasn't as fast and it sounded right here. He wasn't approved until May of 2003. However even by their standards it was fast. He never went in front of the judge which I know a lot of people who do and although it would of been hard we would of done what we had to after sticking pokers up their butts to get them moving.
I just hate hearing someone saying they got an attorney before they are at that stage in the game yet. Our lawyer got 25% of husband's back pay and 25% of his daughters back pay for doing absolutely nothing. It's a long process and frustrating but you can do it on your own to a point.
When I read your response on Judypatooty's thread I didn't realize what he's been thru. I hope your Hubby's doing alright now. I'm a Hoosier born and bred. Yes, I had to go through Richard Lugar's office before on a different subject, 27 years ago. It seems that's the only way to get things done in Indy. Now I'm out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Guam(it's on the map). We still have a SS office here and their regional office is San Francisco. Guam is an island territory of the U.S., so we have all of the U.S. Gov. offices here. (and McD's, KFC, Planet Hollywood, etc...). Major surgeries go to Hawaii, L.A., San Diego or the Phillipeans. I'm an eight year Veteran of the U.S. Navy, yet our VA clinic takes six months just to get an appt.. I'm having to go through the civilian process because I know the VA will deny that my problems go back before 1985 when I got out. Like I mentioned to Judy, I could get the Navy's Psych drs. in on this if need be. That's where it will probably go to post traumatic stress syndrome. True, I'm not as knowledgeable as 'Purplebill' on these matters. Although I know what the VA is not doing. I've wasted several years already going the VA way.
My SS case worker (Rose) is very nice and professional. And no, I haven't gotten a Lawyer yet.... I do have one chosen tho'! He's real good too! As far as I can see, I hope I won't need him. Congrats on getting everything together. I know it won't be easy. I'll just take it one day at a time. Thanks for sharing your story!
You're very welcome. I just hate seeing people throw away their money to a lawyer that they really need and deserve. His caseworker was really nice too, I have to admit. When husband saw the SS doctor the doctor says..."Ok.. you had a diving accident in June 2002 and a car accident in November 2002, correct?" The diving part was right but not the car accident. We told him No. I immediately came home and called the case worker because I didn't want them to come back and say that we said he had an accident and now we weren't and that was reason for denial. They had messed up and put someone else's files with his and she said she thought she'd gotten them all out. Obviously not!.
I'd be scared to do anything through VA. They think a pill or a shot cures everything.
In our area VA service is great... if you can get in as a patient. I do not believe it is a mistake to hire a competent attorney early in the process. While even some attorneys will not take early cases, others will. If nothing else, they can keep you from shooting ourself in the foot when filling out the inumerable forms and questionaires. Also it is quite likely that the attorney fee would be very low is won at the initial application or even at Reconsideration.
To make statements such as "Up until that point the attorney really doesn't do anything..." is simply put, utter nonsense. Most people are unaware of what goes on in a law office and how much work is spent reviewing medical records and other evidence, developing a viable theory of the case under the 5 step Serquential Analysis. How strong are alternate theories. The research involved in developing these theories. Chekcing case law and
Shephards to make sure any citations are still good law and unmodified by the legislature or the courts. . Will there be witnesses available. I meet with my clients much more than other attorneys in my office but they win just as much if not more than I do.
I am still amazed that people think paying their attorney is thowing away their hard earned money. Without the number of dedicated attorneys that I have the privilige or working with, there would be a whole lot of claimants broke and living on the streets; and even forced to commit crimes to survive. Are there some bad attorneys, even rip off artists, sure, but they are well regulated by the state bar, and they do have to carry malpractice insurance, so at least you have some avenue of redress if you are treated badly by one of the bad guys (and they generally don't last very long.)
Ultimately attitudes such as the foregoing only hurt the claimant. You would bre shocked at the amount of cases I have seen that should have been won, but the claimant bought into the theory of attorney as ***** and represented self, or had a friend or family serve as the rep. Having seen the aftermath, these were relatively straight forward cases that were presented in the worst possible light. When you have a husband arguing with a judge regarding points of medical expertise that the husband clear misunderstood but did not get it); its a wonder that more do not lose their cases.
Suffice to say, your chances of winning a fully favorable decision is increased by an exponential factor if you are willing to avial yourself of the services of a competent attorney. But kno't taker my word for it, check with SSA's statistics. Getting your congressperson or senator, etc. may get a file unstuck, but these folks do not and cannot have an effect on the outcome of your case.
I wish everyone well with their cases and can only hope that they are willing to prepare their cases properly and with the apporpriate assistance and expertise.
thanks for stating all that purple.after seeing you mention that getting a good attorney is the best way to go, I called and got one that i am hoping is as good as you.I do feel however that they really aren't doing much and really didn't seem all that interested in looking at all of my medical files when I met with her for the first time two weeks ago.i spoke with a paralegal last week, she called to get my latest doc info and stuff but it was just to send to ssa, they were not going to get copies of the records for themselves.Is this normal?i would think that since they are trying to win my case based on my medical impairments that they would actually want to maybe LOOK into the medical records just once?I called to hire the attorney on a day when i was feeling so overwhelmed by all that I was having to deal with in just getting the proper documentation of my diagnosis' and of the damage done two several nerves during my spinal cord surgery.I finally DID get the nerve damage documentation but not the clinic notes that state my Dx of the central pain syndrome and the Brown sequrd syndrome.but after i called and met with her and seeing how they are doing things here, I am really starting to wonder just whether or not I actually made the right choice.Is this the normal way that attorneys do things?I am just curious about what you think.thanks purple, Marcia
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3-22-01,herniated C-6-7
11-20-01,placement of hardware for failed fusion
9-22-03,removal of cavernous hemangioma that was inside spinal cord. Neuro damage to L hand L leg and R leg.
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