Evidence you need to prove your Omaha Social Security disability claim
My job as your Omaha disability attorney is to make sure that your claim for Social Security disability benefits is supported by the best possible evidence. In deciding whether you are disabled, the Social Security Administration will consider evidence from many sources, including:
- Your medical records and test results.
- Statements, opinions, and reports from your doctors and other medical personnel.
- Your own statements.
- Statements of other people who know you such as family, friends, and co-workers.
Your medical records and test results
Your medical records and test results are some of the most significant evidence the Social Security Administration will review. Here are four reasons why your medical records are crucial.
1. Medical records can prove you have a medically determinable impairment
To be eligible for disability benefits in Nebraska and Iowa, you must have a severe medically determinable impairment. That means you must have a physical or mental abnormality that is more than slight and that can be documented with medically accepted diagnostic techniques. You cannot meet this requirement without medical records. You must have medical proof that something significant is physically or mentally wrong with you.
2. Medical records can prove your impairment meets or equals a listing
Some Iowa and Nebraska Social Security claimants are awarded disability benefits based on their medical records and test results alone. The Social Security Administration has issued regulations known as the Listing of Impairments. These regulations provide medical criteria for a number of physical and mental conditions. If you have one of the listed conditions and it meets the specified criteria, the Social Security Administration will find you are disabled. Even if your condition is not in the listings or it does not meet the criteria, you may still be found disabled if your condition equals or is as serious as a listed condition. Only the most severe conditions will meet or equal the listings.
3. Medical records can help prove you have physical and mental limitations that prevent you from working
Your medical records are important in your Omaha Social Security disability case, even if your condition does not equal or meet a Listing. You may be disabled because your symptoms and functional limitations caused by your impairment prevent you from working. Your medical records may describe the character and location of your symptoms, what actions or events cause or aggravate them, how often they occur, whether they have been improving, worsening, or staying the same, and how they affect your daily activities.
4. Medical records can help establish you are telling the truth about your Omaha Social Security disability claim
Your medical records will reveal your efforts to seek treatment and to follow it. If you have persistently attempted to obtain treatment for pain and other symptoms, the Social Security Administration is more likely to believe you. On the other hand, your statements that you are in severe pain or suffering from other symptoms that prevent you from working will be less believable if you haven’t seen a doctor or followed through with treatment.
Opinions from your doctors and other health care professionals
Your doctors may submit written reports or oral testimony to the Social Security Administration in which they offer opinions on your diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and your physical and mental limitations and restrictions. These reports can be very influential in proving your disability. In fact, your doctor’s opinion may even be controlling, which means the Social Security Administration must adopt it, if it meets certain requirements. One important way your Omaha disability attorney can help with your claim is by working with your doctors to obtain opinions that Social Security will find persuasive. See Your doctor’s role in proving your Social Security disability claim.
Your own statements
The Social Security Administration will consider what you have said about your physical and mental condition and how it affects your day-to-day activities and ability to work. The Social Security Administration will consider all of your statements that are in its records no matter where you made them. For example, Nebraska Social Security decision makers will look at what you said in your application for disability benefits and in any other paperwork you sent to the Social Security Administration. They will consider any statements you made to doctors or other health care professionals that were included in your medical records. And they will consider statements you made to Social Security employees and in testimony at your Omaha disability hearing.
The Social Security Administration will compare your statements to see if they are consistent. Have you told your doctor one thing and then said something contradictory to Social Security? Your statements about your medical condition and how it prevents you from working will be more believable if they are consistent. When they are not, you may need to explain why. Therefore, you should always be honest with your doctors and the Social Security Administration. It is also important for you to provide doctors and Social Security with complete, detailed information. Make sure you mention all the symptoms (e.g., pain, fatigue, problems sitting and walking etc.) that make working impossible or difficult. Don’t fail to mention mental problems such as difficulty concentrating or remembering and following directions.
Statements from people who know you
Statements from people who know you and are familiar with how your condition affects your ability to function can support your Nebraska disability benefits claim. These statements can be submitted in the form of letters to Social Security or live testimony at your Omaha disability hearing. People who might have helpful information include family, friends, co-workers, and supervisors. These people can tell Social Security about your restrictions, daily activities, efforts to work, pain and other symptoms, social functioning, ability to concentrate, and onset date of your disability. Your Omaha disability attorney can advise these people about how to write a letter and how to testify at your hearing. For more, see Testimony from witnesses can support your Omaha Social Security claim.
Assistance from an Omaha disability attorney
As an experienced disability attorney, I know how to gather the evidence that you are disabled and present it to the Social Security Administration in the best possible light. If you want my help with your claim for Social Security disability benefits, and you live in Omaha or surrounding areas in eastern Nebraska and southwestern Iowa, you may provide a brief description of your claim using the form to your right or contact me at:
Timothy J. Cuddigan
Omaha disability attorney
E-mail me
Phone: 402-397-2000
Toll-free: 877-550-8593
Fax: 402-397-0803
10855 West Dodge Road, Suite 100
Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2666
My offices are located near the Social Security district office in the Old Mill area in Omaha, right off of Dodge Street.
Free Initial Consultation
Evening & Weekend
Appointments Available
We can travel to your home if you are unable to visit my offices.
