My dr. changed the date
 

I paid my Dr. to testify for me at my ALJ hearing; however, he changed the date of when I last saw him by five years. My attorney said he spoke with him before the hearing & the last date was already discussed. The doctor is lying now claiming I stopped seeing him five years earlier.
This certainly didn't help my case & contributed to me getting an unfavorable decision. I was floored when my attorney said he should have cross examined the Dr. regarding this. Why didn't he? I can't get another attorney, another one won't take it at this point. What can I do especially with the Dr. lying?
I saw the Dr. with my ex boyfriend so I asked my attorney if he could be a witness of the correct date? My attorney said no he couldn't because he has a vested interest. How would my ex boyfriend who is married to someone else have a vested interest? He wouldn't get any part of my settlement. How can the Dr. get away with this by taking my money then deliberately changing what he and my lawyer agreed would be done?

No, you paid him to testify, not to testify for you. That would be unethical. A doc and attorney should not agree what will be said ahead of time. They can discuss the case, but what you're talking about sounds like paid testimony... Is this a doc your attorney sent you to, that he has an ongoing relationship with?

How often did you see him for appointments? Are you only talking about 1 appointment? And the time between appointments was 5 years?

Did you personally discuss his opinion of your disability status before the court date and if so, did he say he would be supportive?

Did you subpoena the doc? Most won't attend unless you do and it can **** them off. It's considered a waste of their time when a letter will suffice. How much was the fee for him to appear?

Did you attend the hearing? Yes your attorney should have caught it, but where were you?

How did you pay the doctor for office visit/s? Was any portion covered by insurance? By check, cash, cc? Follow the paper trail to provide documentation.

Has he prescribed any medication? A pharmacy will printout a copy of your filled scripts including prescribing doctor and dates.

Did he send you for any tests? Again paper trail... Not to mention his office has to give you copies of your med records going back 7 years, but they will charge you for it.

What did the Vocational Counselor say about your ability to work? They play a significant factor in the process.

How many new attorneys have you spoken with that have refused your case?

You're focusing (perhaps obsessing?) on details you THINK caused the denial, but what does the decision say?

What are you claiming as your disability?

Zevan that is excellant advice from Lit Love and the paper trail regarding your treatment will be very important for you in going to federal court and could well make the difference between a successful or unsuccessful case. i dont know what area you live in but there are lawyers that will take a case to federal court. even if the lawyer is out of your immediate area you can still hire them to take your case to federal court. dont let the time you have to appeal lapse. best of everything for you.

I totally agree with the paper trail as documentation & proof of timeline visits to that dr.
any Rx's by him - ins paid/ billing for him,

Do you think he actually lied?? or just a typo or mistake in his records?
I guess I would call and ask about that part...

Seems like some sort of appeal or such would come into play after you get the paperwork/proof.

Yes, I do feel he deliberately lied. Not only did I talk to him regarding when I saw him, but my attorney spoke with him about it too. It's a conflict of interest issue that made the Dr. do this. He is my ex's friend. He took my money and then decided to lie to help me lose my case. I'm not saying this is the only thing that made me lose but it the most major thing.

I think I should go see a personal injury attorney regarding the damage done to me. There was no reason to do this but to be vindictive.

If you feel the doc lied in order to hurt your case, on behalf of your ex, why would you now want your ex to provide testimony on your behalf? (You asked in the other thread why your ex couldn't be used as a witness for the dates you saw the doc...)

Errors about dates happen ALL THE TIME. If you think it'll be hard to find a lawyer to file an appeal, you'll find it much more difficult to find one to pursue a claim against your doc.

I already know
 

attorneys do not want my case. That's OK, I can fully accept that at this point. I will represent myself & am confident enough to know I will do a better job. It hurts me too much to call attorneys anymore, they do not want my case. As I have stated, I'm not going to let attorneys decide how my case will go. I will just go to the very end until I can't go any further. They don't listen for long when I start to tell them about my case, it's just immediately no we can't help you!!

I wanted my ex to testify when the two of us saw his doctor friend to verify CORRECT DATES. I see nothing wrong with that, and I feel he should be supoened to do it. No one has ever answered my question regarding this so I give up on ever getting one. It's as though I'm told even though he was who I lived with during the years the social security department wants to know about didn't ever really happen. He of anyone knows about my disabilities & went to many doctors with me! I guess I'll just supoena him myself since I'm representing myself now. It was pretty obvious when I spoke with my attorney he feels the appeals board will deny me a new hearing. He made it clear he would not want to represent me anymore after that. I even paid out extra money for him to retrieve further evidence he never bothered to do. He cashed my check months ago though. If my attorney had cross examined the doctor and also questioned the RO I might have been approved. I don't feel I was represented very well. He is now acting like Oh well the Dr. told me he was going to use different dates, so since he didn't do that oh well. Now he's also telling me my CD from the hearing can't be read. He hasn't dropped me yet, but he told me not to get my hopes up in anything good happening. :(

I'm confused about the CD thing, is it an actual CD like a computer cd or is it an abbreviation for something else?

If a computer type of CD , can't you ask for a transcript of it from whoever is in charge of it?

You still have an attorney.

If you choose to represent yourself pro se you can supoena your ex, but I doubt it will help you and it might harm your case. If YOU think the doc committed perjury on behalf of your ex, why do you think your ex would be supportive of your claim? You can't just have him address the questions you want. The ALJ can question him about anything he wants to.

You can provide your attorney with the paper trail to prove there was an ERROR with the doc's testimony. Your medical records with the correct dates might even be in your SSDI file. You can make an appointment to view those records.

What I don't understand is why doesn't the paper evidence, the notes taken by the doctor, the bills sent to you, the co-pays paid by your insurance, show that you were seen on the date you say - why would everything be reliant on verbal evidence?

However, seeing a doctor is not in and of itself, evidence of a severe disability. Many people see doctors regularly and go to work every day.

You can file a request for Appeals Council review. That decision can take six-twelve months. If that is denied, you can go to federal court AND file a new claim at the same time. Federal court can take another year and then the decision is often a remand back to an ALJ to address the issues decided by the court. Sometimes federal court awards benefits, but a remand is also possible.

What is your age, what is your diagnosis, what is your date last insured for SSDI? Do you also have an SSI claim pending?

Appeal has been requested
 

but very much delayed because my attorney who is ready to dump me says the CD from the hearing cannot be read. He feels it is important to have, but at this point when he drops me, like I hope he won't, I will just use the denial from the judge. My appeal has been delayed because of this even. Now more waiting with the threat of being dumped. I was told by the social security office if my lawyer can't hear the CD than it is his software. I think he's just trying to think of an excuse to drop me because he's soon to retire. He knows he did wrong, he even said he should have cross examined the dr. This is what I hired him for.

The paper trail is not available because the Dr. destroyed my file. I will just supeona my ex myself. I'm not worried about this really, he just needs to verify when we saw this particular doctor. Personally it was stupid of the lawyer not to do this & several other things he didn't do. If that's not good enough for the judge then I lose. I've already lost anyway to have to reach this point. If I had just represented myself and not let the conflict of interest get in the way with the Dr. being my ex's friend I would have been much better off. I can prove the Dr. ignored my first email years ago, he tried to claim he didn't receive it. I knew from the start all of this could happen. I'm through listening to people tell me I can't do something. Too many people are negative, I have legal rights to have a fair hearing. There is a reason for the legal term of conflict of interest. It applies in my case & is against the law.

At this time, I don't care to discuss my condition or any of the other things you asked especially on a public forum. I have been on another board discussing it and everyone is negative. I don't need nor care to go through that again. It almost started up here with someone being rude and acting like my innocent question was stupid. I don't think there is such a thing as a stupid question. if someone is asking a question it means they honestly don't know. All of this is painful and difficult enough as it is. I've only been on here to ask a few questions so I can represent myself since it looks like it very well could go that way. I'm just trying to get prepared. I don't think most of the attorneys that do these type of cases do anything.

So you have no receipt or insurance record of doctor's visit(s)?

Zevan, Janke gave you some good tips. even if the doctor destroyed the file, how did you pay, maybe you have receipts, cancelled checks from the bank you can get a copy of, insurance claim records, prescription records etc. i wish you the best of luck. people here were trying to help you, its not their fault that they dont have all the information not that you should put it on a public forum but they were trying their best to help. if you think about that im sure you will understand.