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DOCTORS & DISABILITY APPROVAL PROCESS

"My doctor wrote a letter saying that I am disabled and not able to work at any job.  Social Security denied my benefits, anyway.  How can they do that?"

Your doctor meant well.  But he is attempting to decide a matter that can only be decided by the Commissioner of Social Security under the regulations.  In short, doctors may not determine who is disabled and who is not.

Here is what your doctor can and should do:  provide you with a form or letter describing your specific functional limitations.  By functional limitations I mean your ability to lift, sit, stand, walk, kneel, crouch, crawl, reach, concentrate, remember and follow instructions, complete simple tasks in a timely fashion, etc.  These opinions carry great weight with Social Security when they come from a doctor who has treated you over a fairly long period of time.

Letters from doctors are often not helpful for 2 reasons.  (1) They do not address specific functional limitations that would prevent work, and (2) they are much too general.

One of the great advantages of a Social Security disability attorney or non-attorney advocate is his or her ability to get the correct opinion evidence to advance your claim. There are a thousand other pieces of information that only an experienced attorney/advocate would know.  Any one of these little pieces of information can trip up your case.

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