SOCIAL SECURITY SUCCESS STORIES
Set forth below are just some of the successful outcomes we have obtained for our clients.
■ Our client was terminated from her job as a medical assistant because of frequent absences. She was missing work because of a combination of COPD (asthma and bronchitis), and anxiety and affective disorders. While our appeal was pending, Ms. Murray worked with our client to obtain additional medical evidence that supported her disability. The evidence included additional records and opinions from her treating pulmonologist, family physician and psychiatrist.
At the hearing, Ms. Murray established that our client was likely to be "off-task" 25% or more of the time and would regularly miss more than two days of work per month. Based on the evidence, the judge reversed the initial denial and granted benefits.
■ We helped an injured Marine receive the Social Security disability benefits to which he was entitled. While on leave, he was shot several times. His wounds were so severe that he required extensive treatment for one and a half years, and was unable to return to duty with the Marines. Nevertheless, when he applied for Social Security disability, his application was denied. On appeal, the judge awarded him benefits for the year and a half that he was unable to work.
■A physical therapist began to experience progressive muscle weakness in her mid-20s that spread until it involved her face, chest, back, forearms, hands and feet. She also had chronic fatigue and weight loss, complete left sided ulnar nerve palsy, muscle atrophy in both hands and her right forearm, three arm surgeries, right sided pronator syndrome and ulnar neuropathy, bilateral brachial plexopathy, degenerative discs in the cervical and lumbar spine, and left sided lumbar/sacral radiculopathy. She was turned down at the initial level. However, on appeal, even though physicians were still performing tests to identify the reason for her conditions, we had assembled a picture that led to the judge approving her for Social Security Disability benefits.
■After our 36 year old client was turned down for Social Security Disability at the initial level, we filed an appeal. The evidence we assembled for the hearing established that she had RSD, a herniated disk, knee problems and psoriasis that were so severe that she could not work. The judge thus approved her for Social Security Disability.
■Our 36 year old client was involved in a car accident that left him with bilateral lumbar radiculopathies from a disc protrusion and a disc bulge. He underwent a laminotomy and disectomy that were followed by epidurals that did not relieve his pain. He then had three additional back surgeries. Based on the evidence that we had assembled, the judge approved him for Social Security Disability.