Hi everyone. I am new here. Today was my hearing date, finally after two long years of waiting. I arrive at the hearing and sign in, and shortly thereafter I was told that my attorney was not going to make it to the hearing as he had been injured and couldn't walk. They told me that I would not be having a hearing today and that it would be rescheduled and I would be notified of the date. The ALJ's come from another county a couple of hundred miles away, and stay for a week to hold hearings for my county. I am so frustrated because I know that this will delay my hearing for months, probably about 6 months.
I guess I have no recourse. I am afraid that my medical records will be just that much more out of date and it will really hurt my chances.
I was hospitalized in October 2009, for being 51-50. Suicidal, severely depressed, paranoid, hearing voices, etc. After being released from the hospital I have not been seen by any mental health dr. because I now have an extreme issue of not trusting them, Them being the county mental health people. I feel I was tricked and lied to and hospitalized against my will. Right or wrong, I now dont trust them. I was honest and they did a 51-50 hold on me. Now I am always terrified that someone is going to come and pick me up if I am not acting right. I am suspicious of everyone, especially county mental health people, which is all I have access to because I have no money, no job, no insurance. So I am afraid that by the time I finally get the hearing date again that there will be too large a gap in treatment and I will lose the case. Boy my attorney really screwed things up for me.
Any opinions or suggestions?
Call the Attorney's office - why was no other attorney dispatched? See if they can advocate for you on how severe your need is and how it was no fault of your own that the attorney could not be present.
Unfortunately he is a one man show,the only attorney at his office. His secretary apologized and repeated what I had already been told at the hearing office...that it would be rescheduled and that I would be notified of the new hearing date. I cannot believe this happened to me after the very long wait to finally get a hearing. I am just dumbfounded, this sucks!
Im so sorry this happened to you. I also feel you shouldnt be penalized because of the unfortunate thing that happened to your lawyer. SSA should speed up your hearing. Im not an expert in this but it probably wouldnt hurt to call other attorney offices and tell them what happened to you. Maybe they would give you advice as to what they would do if that happened to one of their clients. Hang in there and Good luck
