Why is it important to tell your doctor about the side effects of your prescription medications in a disability claim?

We see it over and over....our clients will tell us about the drowsiness, fogginess, lightheadness, or other side effects from the pharmacy of medications their doctors have them taking....but then we never see anything about it in the doctor's notes! Why is that a problem? Because disability insurance company adjusters love to say that they are not considering any claimed side effects as valid, because the doctor has not recorded them.

The insurer's theory is essentially this: if the side effects were that bad, you would tell your doctor, and he would record them.

You are probably saying that is ridiculous. We hear all the time from our clients that they assume the doctor knows the side effects....and surely, the doctor does....but it's not getting into the notes that way. We also know doctors who tells us that they do know the side effects and see no need to write them in their notes because they expect it is happening.

If you have a disability claim and your side effects would impact your ability to work, you MUST tell your doctor about them AND make sure the doctor puts it into their notes.

WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING STEPS TO MAKE SURE YOUR SIDE EFFECTS GET NOTED:
1. Write down a list of your medications and describe the side effects for each - type of side effects, how often they happen, how long they last. Bring it with you to EVERY doctor you see. Write the date of your appointment on it.

2. If they have you fill out paperwork when you go into a doctor's office, write down your medications and their side effects on that paperwork....even if there is no blank for side effects on the form, write them down anyway.

3. Tell the nurse who sees you before the doctor comes in. Hand your list that you brought (see #1 above) to the nurse, and explain that you want that list put in your chart.

4. Tell the doctor about your side effects. Make the doctor listen, and explain that you would like that information put in the chart, because your insurance company says they must not be happening if your doctor is not writing your side effects in the notes.

5. Get copies of your doctors' notes every month, and check to make sure they are recording your medication side effects.

If you follow these steps, you will have less problems with an adjuster telling you that your side effects really are not that bad or that they don't impact working.

Tampa Congresswoman Offers Bill to Speed Up Social Security Disability Process

Kathy Castor, House Member from Florida's 11th District filed HR 6485 to speed up the extreme backlog of Social Security Disability hearings in the Social Security System. Specifically, the bill would amend Title II of the Social Security Act to provide that disability determinations on the basis of hearings by the Commissioner of Social Security are made on a timely basis and to require the Commissioner to establish a program for monitoring each year the number of disability determinations which are in reconsideration. The bill was referred to House committee on Ways & Means on Monday, July 14, 2008.

An article appeared in the St. Petersburg Times announced Castor's bill. The article has some sobering statistics about the state of affairs at Social Security, particularly in the Tampa Office of Disability Adjudication & Review (ODAR) where our firm represents many Social Security Disability clients.

Some stats from the article:

In the Tampa office, where cases for Florida's west coast are heard, the backlog represents about 966 per judge.

Average wait for a hearing, as of June 27, 2008:

Nationally: 510 days

Tampa: 681 days

Miami: 618 days

Jacksonville: 540 days

Orlando: 444 days

Fort Lauderdale: 369 days

Cases waiting for hearings

Nationally: 761,042

Tampa: 14,524

Orlando: 7,199

Jacksonville: 7,076

Miami: 4,563

Fort Lauderdale: 3,453

Source: Social Security Administration

The Administrative Law Judges that handle these cases (at the 2nd level of appeal after an initial denial) do tons of work in the Tampa office. These cases are very paper intensive and require a lot of time reviewing medical and vocational records. It does not take a genius to realize that if they had the funding for more Judges, the ODAR could move the cases through faster. The ALJ's need some help. The backlog will not go down unless they get more Judges and staff to hear cases.

Hats off to Representative Castor. On behalf of all of my clients and others waiting for a hearing, thank you. Here is a copy of her bill:

Timely Due Process for the Disabled Act of 2008 (Introduced in House)

HR 6485 IH

110th CONGRESS 2d Session

H. R. 6485

To amend title II of the Social Security Act to provide that disability determinations under such title on the basis of hearings by the Commissioner of Social Security are made on a timely basis and to require the Commissioner to establish a program for monitoring each year the number of disability determinations which are in reconsideration.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 14, 2008

Ms. CASTOR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

---

A BILL

To amend title II of the Social Security Act to provide that disability determinations under such title on the basis of hearings by the Commissioner of Social Security are made on a timely basis and to require the Commissioner to establish a program for monitoring each year the number of disability determinations which are in reconsideration.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Timely Due Process for the Disabled Act of 2008'.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TIME FRAMES TO ENSURE TIMELY DISABILITY DETERMINATIONS.

(a) In General- Section 221(d) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 421(d)) is amended--

(1) by inserting `(1)' after `(d)'; and

(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

`(2) The Commissioner of Social Security shall ensure that--

`(A) the scheduling of the date for the hearing described in paragraph (1) occurs before the end of the period of 5 business days after the date of the request for the hearing;

`(B) the date scheduled for the hearing is during the period of 15 business days after the period of 60 business days after the date of the request; and

`(C) any disability determination on the basis of the hearing is issued before the end of the period of 15 business days after the date on which the hearing is concluded.'.

(b) Effective Date-

(1) IN GENERAL- The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to hearings under section 221(d) of the Social Security Act commenced on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(2) HEARINGS REQUESTED PRIOR TO DATE OF ENACTMENT- In the case of any hearing described in paragraph (1) which was requested prior to the date of the enactment of this Act--

(A) the requirements of subparagraph (A) of section 221(d)(2) of such Act (as added by subsection (a)) shall apply as if the date of the request for the hearing is the date of the enactment of this Act; and

(B) the requirements of subparagraph (B) of such section 221(d)(2) shall be treated as met if the date scheduled for the hearing is during the period of 15 business days following the later of the last day of the period of 60 business days referred to in such subparagraph or the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. MONITORING OF DISABILITY DETERMINATIONS IN RECONSIDERATION.

Section 221 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 421) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(n) The Commissioner of Social Security shall establish and maintain a program under which--

`(1) there is established a target number for disability determinations under this section which are in reconsideration at the end of each year, and

`(2) progress toward attaining that target is regularly monitored and assessed during the year.'.

Welcome to The Disability Law Firm Blog!

Welcome to The Disability Law Firm Blog! Thank you for visiting. My name is John Tucker. I am a Florida attorney based in the Tampa Bay area, and I am the managing shareholder of Tucker & Ludin, P.A. - The Disability Law Firm. We represent disabled and injured people all over the United States, though the majority of our clients are in Florida. Most of our practice involves helping people get different types of insurance and government benefits. The following are some of the types of benefits our law firm helps people fight to get:

• Disability Insurance benefits
  
• ERISA Disability benefits (employee group benefits)
• Life Insurance benefits
  
• Accidental Death benefits
• Personal Injury claims
  
• Social Security Disability benefits
• VA (Veterans) Service-Connected Disability benefits
  

I and other employees of our firm intend on posting various things of interest in the areas of disability benefits and disability law. As a disability attorney, I see my clients go through things that no one should have to face. The way my clients are treated by disability insurance companies and the government while they wait to get disability benefits they deserve is appalling. Feel free to comment about any posts that I offer. I have practiced as a disability attorney and as an ERISA attorney for over 16 years, and I have had the chance to work with nearly 2000 clients. I hope you find our comments helpful.