Social Security Disability Law: News and Facts

Kidney Failure is a complex disorder that affects every system in the body. It is also known as Renal Failure and is characterized by an inability of the kidneys to properly filter the blood, which leads to blood with increased levels of chemicals and toxins circulating through the body. Symptoms vary greatly from person to person. Some individuals may barely feel the effects of kidney failure while other are too fatigued and sick to leave their beds. In general, the most common symptoms include upset stomach, swelling in the feet and other extremities, fatigue, and muscle soreness or cramping. In some cases, abnormal heart rhythms and dozens of other symptoms may occur. Causes of this condition can also vary greatly based on the medical history of the individual, but in America the most common causes of kidney failure are hypertension, glomerulonephritis, and diabetes. Diagnosis is based upon analysis of an individual's GFR, or glomerular filtration rate, which refers to the speed...

Most Social Security disability claims are initially processed through a network of local Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices and State agencies (usually called Disability Determination Services or DDSs).  The field office is responsible for verifying non-medical eligibility requirements, which may include age, employment, marital status, or Social Security coverage information. The field office then sends the case to a DDS for evaluation of disability. Disability Determination Services (DDS) is a State agency responsible for developing medical evidence and making the initial medical disability determination on whether a claimant is disabled or blind under Social Security law. The agency and its offices are fully funded by the federal government. DDS usually tries to obtain medical evidence from the claimant’s own medical sources first. If that evidence is unavailable or insufficient to make a determination, the DDS will arrange for a consultative examination (CE) to...

Social Security receives more disability applications for back problems than for any other physical illness or injury. Disability examiners see back problems and injuries day after day, and they will not grant disability benefits for the moderate or intermittent back pain so many people get after age 40 or 50. Problems with your lower back affect everything you do during the day. Many of our clients suffering from lower back pain tell us that you do not realize how much you use your lower back until it gets injured. Spinal Stenosis is a disorder of the skeletal spine (vertebral column) affecting musculoskeletal functioning. In laymen’s terms, it is a narrowing of the spaces within your spine, which can put pressure on the nerves that travel through the spine. Spinal stenosis occurs most often in the lower back and the neck. Some people with spinal stenosis may not have symptoms.  Musculoskeletal disorders like stenosis may be congenital or acquired. The new listing 1.16 has four pa...

For every single case  SSA  uses the Five-Step Sequential Evaluation Processto  determine whether an applicant is disabled .   The steps are followed in order.    Each step is a question geared to determine the significance and measure of your impairment, as it affects your ability to work full time.  If it is determined that the applicant is “disabled” or “not disabled” at any step of the sequential evaluation process, the evaluation will end without going on to the next step. It is a sequential process, meaning that if at any step you are determined either disabled or not disabled, the process stops and disability is either awarded or denied. Step 1: Are you working? If you are working, and your earnings averaged more than $1,260 per month last year (during the year 2020), that is considered Substantial Gainful Activity, and Social Security probably won’t consider you to be disabled. Social Security Regulations explain “substantial gainful activity” ...