My lawyer must be watching this forum, he actually called me today. He finally told me that SSA made their decision on my case for only one of my medical problems. They only judged on my COPD, none of the other problems were even looked at. They only got records from the VA pertaining to COPD. My COPD is a doctor diagnosed problem and I do have to keep an inhaler around for it but it didn't keep me from working. I asked the lawyer why they did this and he told me that the doctor that SSA sent me to for the normal physical told them that the COPD was the only thing he found of any concern and that it was not severe enough to warrant disability and I won't argue that point. But I couldn't even do the squats and toe stands he asked me to do because I couldn't bend my leg and he tells SSA that there is nothing physically wrong with me. I honestly believe that SSA pays these doctors not to find anything. I wish I was able to go over to his office and hit him up side the head with my crutches.
Anyway, my lawyer made out like he knew nothing about the knee replacement after all the nasty messages I left him. But he thinks that with all the medical records, and x-rays pertaining to the knee replacement and a form filled out by my orthopedic doctor, that we might stand a chance of getting the case reviewed immediately and overturn the decision. He quoted to me something that I had already found from SSA's own rules of qualifications. The rule states that the impairment of a weight bearing joint that has lasted or is expected to last 12 months is qualified for disability. This problem has kept me from working for 18 months now and it is no where near being resolved. I believe this puts me over the qualification limits set by SSA and the lawyer does too. I pray to god this don’t turn out to be another one of his tricks to get my hopes and confidence in him back up. I would be really PO’d.