Multiple Medical Sources

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Disability cases are usually a battle of the medical experts with your doctor saying you cannot work while their doctor saying you can. One of the best ways to ensure that your doctor’s opinion will be accepted over the non-treating doctor’s opinion is to have other doctors corroborate your doctor’s opinion.

I represent a 62 year old former Administrative Assistant with various back and foot problems. Instead of simply relying on the opinion of the claimant’s primary treating source, her neurologist, I secured opinions from the claimant’s rheumatologist, family doctor, orthopedist and chiropractor that concurred with the neurologist. Additionally, some investigation revealed that the non-treating doctor was not even board certified. Not surprisingly, the claimant’s application for disability benefits was approved.

While it may have been possible that the claimant could have received disability benefits without the concurring medical opinions, I prefer to stack the deck in the claimant’s favor, and minimize the chances of having to file an appeal. Since claimants normally need disability benefits as soon as possible to replace their lost income, the relatively small investment in time and money to secure the additional medical support should be well worth it.

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