Your questions

Work Comp Doctors and What They Mean

Dirk May Help, Illinois, Illinois Work Comp Attorney, Illinois Work Comp Lawyer, Workers Compensation, Workers Compensation Commission, Your questions

Illinois law allows the Workers’ Compensation insurance company to send the injured worker to a doctor of its own choice.

This doctor cannot provide you with any treatment.

The only purpose of this doctor is to examine you and the doctor’s opinion may be used against you in your case.

You will have to travel to see the doctor for an exam that will last approximately 10 minutes to one hour.

The doctor will write a report that describes your injuries, whether your condition is related to your work injury, what treatment is necessary, and your restrictions.

The insurance company may use this report to deny the injured worker medical treatment, stop payments, or deny the case all together.

If this happens, then you will need to have your doctor testify in your favor.

The Arbitrator will chose between the doctors’ opinions in deciding whether or not you win your case.

It is important to know that you must go to the insurance company doctor or you will be denied all benefits.

What is in the injured worker’s favor is that your treating doctor spends much more time with you and over the course of time sees how the injury affects you, and if the doctor is your surgeon sees the pathology of your condition in a way that the insurance company doctor cannot.

If you are ordered to see a Work Comp doctor make sure that you talk with an experienced Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney immediately.

Questions about your work injury? Feel free to contact Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney Dirk May with Williams and Swee at 309-827-4371.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Social Security Disability

Dirk May Help, Illinois Social Security Disability Attorney, Illinois Social Security Disability Lawyer, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Supplemental Security Income, Your questions

Earlier this year I posted a story regarding the Institute of Medicine’s report recommending that Chronic Fatigue be renamed to Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease or SEID.

I have had a number of clients who experience Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

These type of cases are difficult to win because there is no specific test for diagnosing Chronic Fatigue and some judges think people are faking their condition.

If you suffer from SEID you should ask your doctor to research the new report and ask your doctor to either write a letter or include in your treatment notes his opinion whether you meet the diagnostic criteria and whether he or she believes it will result in you missing more than 2 days of work per month and whether it will cause you to off task more than 20 percent of the day.

The diagnosis requires the patient to have a substantial reduction or impairment in the ability to engage in pre-illness levels of occupational, educational, social, or personal activities that persist for more than 6 months and is accompanied by fatigue, which is often profound, is not the result of ongoing excessive exertion, and is not substantially alleviated by rest, and experiences post-exertional malaise, and unrefreshing sleep. At least one of the two is also required: cognitive impairment or orthostatic intolerance.

The doctor’s opinion regarding absences and productivity is important because no employer will tolerate low productivity or poor attendance.

Questions about your disability case? Feel free to contact Illinois Social Security Disability Lawyer Dirk May with Williams and Swee at 309-827-4371.

Is It Too Late to Get a Social Security Disability Lawyer?

Dirk May Help, Illinois Social Security Disability Attorney, Illinois Social Security Disability Lawyer, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Supplemental Security Income, Your questions

It is always a good idea to get your attorney involved in the Social Security Disability application process as soon as possible.

This gives you an idea of what Social Security is looking for, and what you will need to do to win your case.

However, there is not a point when using a lawyer is no longer helpful.

For instance, if you are denied you can hire a lawyer to help you appeal.

Even at the hearing the Administrative Law Judge is supposed to ask you if you want a lawyer.

If you tell the Judge “Yes”, then the Judge will stop the hearing and reschedule it to allow you to get a lawyer.

Some people get a lawyer after they have been denied at the hearing, in order to appeal to the Appeals Council.

This makes it difficult to find a lawyer because all the evidence has been entered and you are limited in what you can do and argue as a result.

The ideal situation is to go to an experienced Social Security Disability lawyer and get immediate assistance with filing your application, completing the questionnaires from Social Security, appealing promptly, and preparing for the hearing questions. This gives you the best shot at winning.

There are no attorney fees unless you win and you have back benefits awarded so this makes it much easier to get a lawyer to help you.

Questions about Social Security Disability? Feel free to contact Illinois Social Security Disability Lawyer Dirk May with Williams and Swee at 309-827-4371.

Social Security Disability and the Application Process

Dirk May Help, Illinois Social Security Disability Attorney, Illinois Social Security Disability Lawyer, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Supplemental Security Income, Your questions

Social Security Disability is not a well known or easily understood process.

Not many people understand it because the government does not advertise that the benefits are available and some of the Social Security employees are not extremely helpful.

You can walk into a local Social Security office and apply for benefits or call and schedule a telephone appointment.

However, Social Security prefers you to file your disability application online.

You do this through the Social Security website.

The website is not easy to use and it is difficult to understand why certain questions are being asked and how the answers may fit in to deciding whether you found disabled or not.

The process is also very long.

In Central Illinois it is taking up to 6 months for Social Security to review your initial application.

If you are denied at the initial stage you must appeal if you want to move on. The second stage may also take up to 6 months.

If you are denied at the second stage, then you must appeal again to have a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.

It is taking approximately 12 months to get the hearing before a Judge in Illinois.

It is a frustrating and mysterious process to go through without someone to help you.

An experienced Social Security Attorney can help you from start to finish, including filing the application, helping you answer the written questions Social Security sends to you, and helping you prepare to answer the Judge’s questions.

Need help? Feel free to contact Illinois Social Security Disability lawyer Dirk May with Williams and Swee at 309-827-4371.

Back Problems and Social Security Disability

Dirk May Help, Social Security Disability, Your questions

Back injuries, illnesses, and conditions are a leading reason that people are found eligible for Social Security Disability.

Diseases such as arthritis, degenerative disc disease, scoliosis, and spinal arachnoiditis may attack the spine and cause severe pain and interfere with walking.

Of course, disc herniations, spinal canal narrowing, and traumatic injuries to the back may result in the need for disc surgeries, implants or fusions.

It is important that you be able to show objective evidence of these conditions through MRIs, CAT scan, Xrays, operative reports or other diagnostic tests.

Many Judges give a claimant seeking disability payments the benefit of the doubt if they have had several back surgeries with poor results.

Ongoing pain treatment is also a sign that you are having chronic problems.

This may include seeing a pain management doctor, taking strong pain medications, wearing a pain stimulator, or having nerves burned.

Prescriptions for a brace, cane or walker also show that you are having mobility problems.

You will also need to testify to consistent problems with pain and side effects from medications interfering with concentration and staying on task.

If you are under 50 years of age and can perform any job, then you are not disabled according to Social Security Disability rules. This means that you must convince the Judge that your back pain interferes with your walking, movement, posture and concentration to the extent that you will not be able to meet attendance or productivity standards.

If you are over 50 years of age and are limited to a sit down job, then you will often have a good chance of winning disability. For people who have performed a sit down job in the past 15 years you must still prove that you cannot do your past work.

Questions about your disability case? Feel free to contact Illinois Social Security Disability Attorney Dirk May with Williams and Swee at 309-827-4371.