What Specifically Does the Judge Need to Approve Your Disability Claim?

[Music] hi there this is Jonathan Ginsberg I'm a social security disability attorney and today I'd like to talk to you about how to win your Social Security Disability hearing and basically what I want to talk about is what you need to do to make the judge make the judge's job easier so that he or she can approve your case understand what the judge needs and what the judge does not want to see and that's how you should focus your preparation for example it's really important in disability hearings to have objective medical evidence that means you need MRI CT ultrasound nerve conduction study tests any type of test that shows a particular medical condition and it can be documented as opposed to walking in and saying I hurt all over we don't really know why those cases simply don't get approved anymore you want to have a medical record that shows regular ongoing treatment judges do not like to see gaps in medical treatment so you need to have ongoing treatment ideally you want to have treatment with a specialist judges much prefer to see treatment records from specialists as opposed to your family doctor years ago a family doctors opinion was enough it is no longer enough most of the time a judge is going to expect to see treatment records from a specialist the judge will also want to hear from that specialist as well as your family doctor about vocational or work activity limitations realize that Social Security defines disability in terms of your capacity to perform work therefore if the doctor will make notes or complete a functional capacity evaluation that discusses work capacity limitations lifting caring sitting standing walking climbing kneeling stooping things like that that goes a long way because again the judge is trying to translate the medical findings to specific work limitations if you can get a doctor who'll cooperate with your lawyer and complete a functional capacity evaluation that goes a long way that's from a specialist that goes in especially long way now there are a few things that a judge is not going to want to see and again judges under a lot of pressure these days because there's people in Congress who believe that Social Security disability is rife with fraud I think that's nonsense but there is a lot of pressure and judges are not going to improve cases if they see certain things for example if they see evidence of drug seeking behavior and that would be going from one doctor to the other looking for pain medications most pain doctors or doctors who prescribed narcotic pain medications will ask you to sign a contract that says you won't do that if they catch you doing that even if you are truly in pain what will happen is that will get in your record most of the time the doctor will fire you at least both of them will probably fire you and you'll have a very difficult time explaining to the judge why you gauge in that behavior by the same token if you use street drugs or self-medicate with alcohol or by prescription medications from friends things like that that is going to really hurt your case because again judges expect to see you completely compliant with your legitimate doctors medical recommendations you do not have the right to take it upon yourself to buy pain medications on the street you don't want to do that judges are also going to be looking for what I would call a disconnect between the objective medical evidence and your symptoms for example if you claim to have severe knee pain but the MRI Vernie does not show any significant problem that's going to be a problem that's going to be an issue that very well could be that you have significant knee pain that is idiopathic that there's no specific cause for but getting a disability hearing that's going to be very hard to convince a judge but that's legitimate so you want to talk to your doctor about the objective testing and if you're having pain or symptoms that are inconsistent with the objective testing you want to discuss with your doctor why that might be and perhaps look to try to get a different type of diagnosis you want to avoid an attitude of entitlement at your hearing that means that judges are very very very sensitive to people who are basically saying I know I'm disabled pay me when they testify something defective when I became disabled or after I became disabled being disabled that's a legal determination it's not for you to make and I realize that it can be difficult because you may feel that everything stacked against you but you always want to go on up your attitude I'm going to fight this anything I can do to go back to work I'm going to do it don't look like you've given up and judges pick up on this and I can tell you lots and lots of hearings when the judge sense that somebody hasn't given up they're not trying to be more it takes a lot more evidence to win because again the judge is not going to believe you by this but on the other hand if you go into a hearing and you basically show the judge I'm fighting this I'm trying I tried to work but unsuccessful doing so I'm trying to walk I've quit smoking I've quit drinking I've done these things to make myself better it still is not working the doctor is saying I'm trying my best but it's not working and the judge will give you better for the doubt I had a hearing not too long ago where a client testified he originally filed an alleged about 10 15 different things going on and by the hearing he said well you know four or five of those things don't really bother me anymore that really enhanced his credibility and the judge approved this case don't be afraid to do that judges want to see they want the treatment they don't want you to walk in there and say everything hurts my pain levels at at 10 all time that is not believable you want to go in there with the idea that you're not entitled to disability that you're fighting this every step of the way and that when you have a good day or a good few hours you're going to try to make the most of it so those are some tips I can give you regarding how to win your case and a lot of its mental a lot of its your attitude and the final thing I would tell you is practice with your lawyer do not go to a hearing without having gone through the questions you're likely to get with your attorney that's what we're here for so I would tell you that one of the best things you can do the best use of your time prior to a hearing is to practice with your lawyer and listen to the feedback and change your approach if you need me and I realize that sometimes it's late in the game to get objective medical testing but again your attitude can go a long way to taking a case that is on the fence and getting it approved so those are some tips about how to win your disability case I hope you found it helpful if you did please give it a thumbs up on YouTube and Facebook and let me know if there any questions this is Jonathan Ginsberg wishing you the best hi this is Jonathan Ginsberg and I hope you found this video helpful if you'd like to know more about how to win your social security disability case I'd like to invite you to download my secrets to getting approved early survival kit that I created just for people like you currently I'm making the survival kit available at no cost and I encourage you to grab your copy now some of the topics I cover include how do I know if I have a case it's at the right time for me to file my claim 9 common mistakes that can doom your case the three must have arguments you use to win your case and a topic that every disability claimants now how to avoid trick questions from the judge if you are a loved one you need to win Social Security disability benefits you'll find the survival kit essential reading download your survival kit right now and at no cost that's visit SSD answers.com backslash survival and signup it's that easy please act now and as always I wish you the best [Music]

Channel: Social Security Disability videos

Views: 61,730

Keywords: social security disability, disability attorneys, Jonathan Ginsberg, ssdi ssi, disability benefits, ssdi, disability, ssdi hearing, disability approval, social security disability benefits, disability hearing, how to apply for social security disability, how to apply for disability, ssi disability, social security

Id: JqUCH_9TyOM

Length: 8min 40sec (520 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 17 2017