Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Medical Records sometimes only tell part of the story in Social Security Disability claims. Successful Social Security Attorneys must evaluate the medical records to see if there are any gaps or issues not fully elaborated on for the Social Security Judge.

The Griffin Law Firm, P.C., a successful social security law firm, recently obtained a favorable decision for a social security client from an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) with the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, Atlanta North location.  The Social Security claimant had a lobectomy of the lung due to cancer.  The oncologist's records contained a description of the procedure and some additional testing.  However, the oncologist's records did not go far enough in relating the cancer and lobectomy to our client's inability to perform past relevant work nor work available in substantial numbers within the national economy presently.
 
Due to the efforts of these experienced social security lawyers, a medical narrative was obtained from the oncologist that convinced the ALJ to render a fully favorable decision. The narrative must do more than just provide a diagnosis, treatment summary, and prognosis. It needs to explore past and future work restrictions to properly document the disability required to successfully obtain social security disability benefits. 
 
Most ALJs will hold the hearing and after hearing testimony from the claimant and vocational expert will take the file back to their office and issue a decision in about 60-90 days.  Due to the efforts of The Griffin Law Firm, P.C., the ALJ in this case issued a fully favorable decision from the bench on the date of the hearing.  What this means for this client is that they will get  a past due benefit check and continuing checks in about 30 - 45 days rather than the 90 to 120 days that we normally see.
 
Sometimes, the medical records only tell part of the story and it is the missing part that can be critical to your case.  If you have a Social Security Disability claim pending before the Social Security Administration, make sure that your medical providers are stating clearly what your physical work restrictions are.