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cherylanderson (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2005 - 2:00 am: | 
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I'm 35 yr old from Ia.I had ruptured discs in my lower back. 1 surgery on it. Also diagnosed with depression, dissociative disorder, ptsd and add.I been thru many jobs-lost them due to my mental health problems. I worked in security and law enforcement. Filed ssdi in 2001. Judge spent more time trying to figure out how to exclude evidence than actually evaluate it at hearing. Excluded testimony of the vocational expert witness that soc sec provided (not provided by my atty). She testifies that I can not work. Judge ignores all of that testimony and excludes it and also tosses out all of my mental health evidence-says I can go back to work. I have no income but I do not qualify for any public assistance of any kind because I have an IRA. The system would have me blow all of the money in my IRA now. So now I am forced to decide weather to spend my IRA now for real needs like food, rent and health expenses or not spend the IRA plan ahead & be punished in the present. |
cherylanderson (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2005 - 2:06 am: |
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Oh yeah soc sec also combined my file with a person with the same name into one person. When my atty first saw my file it was a huge mess. At least 6 months to a year wasted on this alone. God forbid social secutity use soc sec numbers to sort files out. |
cherylanderson (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2005 - 2:24 am: |
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Oh yeah I was also in voc rehab but they kicked me out. We could not identify a job that I would be able to do considering my education, work experience and physical and mental conditions. I told them the expert witness said I could not work. Frankly they were stunned when my claim was denied. I was too. How can a judge just ignore expert testimony, refuse to state any of the testimony and throw it all out? |
Paul McChesney (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 1122
Registered: 5-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2005 - 5:41 am: |
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I am sure you have serious problems. You do not give me the limitations from your conditions, nor set out what each of the doctors said, so I would be guessing to say what your chances would be on appeal from such a decision. But if you cannot work you must appeal, or file a new claim, or both, depending on the detailed facts of your case.
But your story does help me make this comment, about the ALJ's who make the decision on the third round, the one at which most people without overwhelming disability hope to win their case:
The good things about the hearing system is that the ALJ is somewhat independent, and can make a decision based on what he or she thinks is right, provided it is supported by some evidence; and the ALJ's are selected based on testing of their knowledge of the law.
The testing selection process means that, as far as their attitudes toward other people, and their philosophy of life, they are selected more or less at random.
So, if you wonder about what 100 different ALJ's might think about your condition, you could imagine what 100 random people you know think about your condition. Most would be sympathetic, and a few would not.
If you draw an ALJ with the latter attitude, you are in trouble, even if you are disabled.
The cure for that problem is almost as bad as the disease: You can appeal the ALJ decision, first to the Appeals Council, who sends back about 25% of the cases appealed to it, and then to the Federal District Courts, where your chances vary widely depending on the exact facts of your case and the content of the ALJ's decision.
District Court judges are chosen by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Clinton appointed few judges, and so the general drift of the District Courts over the last few years has been more conservative in all ways. And there are a fair number of people floating around who are drawing benefits and shouldn't be, and the judges know that, and it makes them slower to act. So it has become more difficult to win cases before the District Courts.
The great virtue of the District Courts, though, is that the judges are appointed for life and cannot be removed except for committing crimes, and are therefore free to do what they think is right. This often, but not always, gives you a fair chance before the District Court; and the possibility of an appeal means that hostile ALJ's are somewhat constrained.
One problem is that this appeal takes a long time: in 2005, about 9 months to the Appeals Council, and a trip to the District Court can add more than a year, on top of the already catastrophically long delay to the hearing. Anyone who does not have long term disability insurance or a spouse with a substantial income will undergo profound life changes while they wait for their new hearing, often in front of the same, but chastened, ALJ.
Another is that many lawyers handle cases only at the hearing level, and are not familiar with appeals beyond that level.
Several suggestions:
Try to remember not to despair or give up. It is possible to win after a hearing denial.
Be sure your lawyer handles a lot of appeals, or associates another lawyer who does.
If you are reading this and are thinking of hiring a lawyer, be sure to consider hiring one who is prepared to handle an appeal to the District Court if necessary. One of the first things I remember George Thomason telling me many years ago is to prepare every case as if the ALJ will be hostile and you are going to have to win it at the District Court. That is good advice. In order to do it, you need to know how to win at the District Court. |
Anonymous
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 11, 2005 - 1:26 am: |
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my name is yvonne and im 43 and finished 12 grade. i was tested by a pyscologist for 6 hours and found i had memory loss short and long term. im on medication for it. i also have sleep apea, unable to sleep cuz i wake up gasping for breath. my doc gives me medication for depression also i havent work in 14 motnhs. i have had hep c since 1997, and i will bve going on inferor just as i get medical. i also was in the hospital in 2000 for endorictic infection of the middle heart musle. im a 15 year drug iv user, i have also tested postivie for tb and just got off my medication for being exposed to it, depression and memory loss i see medical dr, and a pysciolgist. im making this quick, i live in paso robles can you help me out with a laywer? and do you think i can win the appeal? i just finished my state disability and i was turned down for ssi/ss but was told they always turn you down the first time..im in the process of appealing but would like a laywer to help me befor i send the papers back. i have 2 leaky vaules that are also being watch but i have lots of sickeness from hep and pain under the rib cage, please help me...please e-mail me at looneytunes93446@tcsn.net cuz i need to know how to getthat lawyer and if i have a case and whatdo you think do i have a case or not????please help me paul! |
Anonymous
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 11, 2005 - 9:53 pm: |
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Hi, I am hoping that someone can give me some advice.. I know of a person (relative) who has been receiving disablitiy checks over the last 10 years and is NOT DISABLED AT ALL..She does have the occasion aches and pains like we all have.But by far NOT DISABLED. She has even admited to going on the Internet to learn about diseases that she can claim she has.. She works harder than a man.. Digging in her garden, transplanting trees.. Building Ponds, Carrying heavy stone..Climbing on Roof tops to fix loose shingles... I have seen it with my own eyes, she laughs about the fact that she gets by with all this.. I want to report her but want to be anonymous.. Does anyone have any suggestions.. I can also get videos of this..She is a very evil and a manipulative person..Thanks for your time!! |
Paul McChesney (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 1241
Registered: 5-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 02, 2005 - 1:13 pm: |
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Here is a repeat of an answer I gave elsewhere:
It is frustrating to me how little the Administration is doing to follow up on this sort of fraud. It costs us all a lot of money, and hurts the credibility and reputation of those who are really disabled, and, by the way, the reputation of lawyers who represent the disabled.
You have to be sure of your facts, of course. There are a lot of people who do not look disabled, or who can do a certain amount of work, but cannot maintain employment because of conditions that are not obvious to the eye, or are intermittent.
If you are concerned about liability for wrongfully reporting someone, and you should be, you should talk to a lawyer about that problem before reporting anyone.
The Administration has the following ways to report fraud:
The SSA Internet site has a
SSA Public Fraud Reporting Page, and some guidelines for reporting fraud.
You can fax in a fraud report to 410-597-0118, or call it in at 1-800-269-0271 between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; if you are deaf use TTY: 1-866-501-2101.
If you get an uncooperative person on the phone you might try hanging up and calling again; you will almost certainly get a different operator, and finally a helpful one.
That all looks pretty on paper, but as you have said, the reality is that the Administration is doing little to actually follow up on these cases. If that does not work, you can try contacting a newspaper in your area, or organizing some sort of campaign to fund the Social Security Inspector General's office so they can hire more agents, which will cost a little but save a lot in the long run.
As a long shot that probably won't work, you might try the GAO Fraud Reporting Webpage. The GAO, or General Accounting Office, is independent of the Administration, and directly under the Congress, and so is more designed for reporting fraud within the Administration itself.
If anyone is reading this is drawing a check and working under the table, or drawing a check and is not disabled, you should be aware that, though the law is only erratically enforced, the penalties are life shattering, it is enforced in fits and starts now, and well might be enforced vigorously in the future, at which point merely stopping the illegal activity will not be enough to get you out of serious trouble. You live night and day with a sword hanging over your head, suspended by a thread. Will it fall? I don't know but I know that if you have any capacity for reflection it should haunt your dreams.
Abuses like this tend to grow until those in power are forced to say, "enough" and do something that stops the abuse. Until that happens, foolish people look around and see others committing fraud without getting punished and assume they never will be. If the Inspector General's office is funded to investigate fraud vigorously in 2009, it will be too late to quit then; you are headed to the big house. |
Andrea Mitchell (Amitchell41)
New member
Username: Amitchell41
Post Number: 1
Registered: 7-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 9:30 pm: |
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I am the mother of a mentally disabled 5 yr old. I recently have felt that my job is "unstable". I would like to know how the pay scale works so that I know how much to expect if something happens. They have always made it odd amounts and I have never understood how they come up with those amounts. No one at the office will explain it to me and I haven't found any kind of pay table online so maybe you could help. we live in Texas if that helps. Thank you |
Paul McChesney (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 1338
Registered: 5-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2005 - 8:55 am: |
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If you want to know how much Social Security disabiltiy you would draw, you need the earnings record that the Administration sends most people on a regular basis. If you don't have one, call 1 800 772 1213 and ask for one, or order it at www.ssa.gov.
Once you get it, look at the record of yearly earnings. If there is something missing, you need to try to fix that. If there is something missing, your estimated benefits will probably be too low.
If that record is accurate, the estimated benefits will also probably be very close to what you will get.
There is a complex formula, but once they have entered the right earnings amount, the computer is not likely to make a calculation mistake.
If you want to know how much SSI you would draw if you were disabled, or how much your disabled child would draw if your income goes up or down, that is a complex question, and unfortunately the answer varies some from state to state. To hazard a rough guess, if your family income is $10,000 a year there will be some SSI for a disabled family member; if it is $30,000, there will be none, and in between it depends on the state and the number of dependents.
If your child is drawing SSI, and the amount is raised or lowered, there is supposed to be a notice sent out. If that notice lists the family income correctly, the benefit amount is usually correct. Check that income carefully and contact the Administration if it is too high or too low.
(Message edited by admin on August 02, 2005) |
ann louis (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 9:16 pm: |
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hello paul i am a mother of 2 boy/girl i have a court date for an appeal for my son with sirver asthma now he never been hospitalize but go to the dr.alot,have a pulmonary dr.and a restpertory nurse he take lots of meds also on home neb. now the first time i went to court me and my son went and the judge say the i cant raperzated myself i have to get a lawyer or someone to rapazit me. can my tharpy nurse support me when i go.i need to no what to do court is 8/31/05 . help |
elaine lewis (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 9:22 pm: |
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hello paul i am a mother of 2 boy/girl i have a court date for an appeal for my son with sirver asthma now he never been hospitalize but go to the dr.alot,have a pulmonary dr.and a restpertory nurse he take lots of meds also on home neb. now the first time i went to court me and my son went and the judge say the i cant raperzated myself i have to get a lawyer or someone to rapazit me. can my tharpy nurse support me when i go.i need to no what to do court is 8/31/05 . help |
angela gayle davis (Chand2407)
Junior Member
Username: Chand2407
Post Number: 5
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 17, 2005 - 6:16 pm: |
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my name is angela and im 31 years old, i have a 10 year old son. he has been denied twice for adhd. we went in front of a alj judge last week and am waitin g on a decision. well i want to know the lawyer said we have a good chance of winning. he has an overall iq of 74 and he is very hyper. does the judge look at his school records because they were trying to say he has adhd but is not severe enough. but his medical records says different. i just want to know rules for adhd for children thanks |
Paul McChesney (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 1048
Registered: 5-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 5:16 am: |
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The judge looks at every piece of relevant evidence, or at least is supposed to. That almost always includes, for children, school records as well as medical records. |
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