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Originally Posted by youngwife
We are preping to apply. Have some questions for those of you have been there done that.
My husband has demyelinating and axonal peripheral polyneuropathy and central pontine myelinolysis along with numerous other conditions including COPD, chronic pancreatitis, arthritis, short term memory problems... I , a mere layman, believe he meets the SS Blue book conditions described in 11.0 c and 11.14.
I also believe we are going to have the medical documentation and tests to back this up. Possibly we will have records to back up the dementia after his neuropsyc testing in october.
He is 55 y old and has worked as a policeman, jailor and building maintance man. He is now confinded to a wheelchair.
His neurologist is on board. his primary care doctor, I believe, will be on board after we have given physical therapy a couple more months. I am not giving up on my husband ever walking again or getting better. I am taking him to every doctor we are refered to and every therpay session sceduled. But I do live with him every day. I can see he is getting worse not better. He is falling more frequently when he pulls up on a counter to try and stand for a second to reach something or transfer to bed. And i believe his physical therapist sees him getting worse also over the last 4 1/2 months she has been treating him three times a week.
SO I have read I should submit copies of all his medical records with the initail application. I am working on gather those now.
1) Do I need to submit records that have nothing to do with his disability? Like corotid artery ultrasounds and cystascopes that are not related to the condition and were normal?
2) do physical therapy notes count as medical evidence? Because this will prove he is trying o walk and stand but can't and it getting worse.
3) how many of his doctors do I need to ask to fill out and RFC form? Does his urologist really need to fill one out when he is seeing him for benign enlarged prostrate?
4) is a physical therapist qualified to fill an RFC out? Or would I be waisting her time?
5) Is it customary to charge $1 a page for copies of his medical records? Because since loosing his income we are broke and relying partially on family to survive right now.
Thank you in advance. I am sure I will have more questions soon.
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What is his date of onset of disability? What is the last day he was able to work? I don't want him to lose possible months of benefits while you are trying to put a case together and delay filing. SSA will request the records from the sources you list and will pay for them if necessary.
If you have limited income like you say and could meet the SSI income and resource rules, every month you delay is a month that he gets no money from SSI. Also, if his date of onset is more than 17 months ago, every month you delay is a month he will not get an SSDI payment.
However, it is also a good idea to be proactive and submit records in your possession, especially those that show that he meets the listing you say he does.
SSA will only need to determine RFC if he doesn't meet a listing, if they go to step 4 in the decision making process. If he is approved at step 3 (meet or equal a listing), RFC is not necessary.
My suggestion is to gather what you think is the most important evidence that shows he meets a listing and what you can afford to pay for. In the mean time, start the online disability application at socialsecurity.gov and be thorough. You can complete it over several days or weeks, but it is not considered a valid application until you submit it to SSA.