Your Treating Doctor Role in Your Disability Application

While the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a very specific set of criteria for determining whether disability applicants qualify, the evaluation of your treating doctor is given a significant amount of weight. Houston Social Security attorneys have worked with clients whose doctors assessments made the difference between an award of benefits and denial, especially at the hearing level before an administrative law judge.

How SSA Perceives the Role of the Treating Doctor

SSA acknowledges that the primary doctor who treated you has a uniquely detailed understanding of your disability and how it affects your life, including your ability to work. Neither consultations with experts nor independent medical examinations will yield as valuable a picture of your impairments as the information provided by your treating doctor. For this reason, SSA gives particular consideration to his/her opinion (20 C.F.R. § 404.1527, SSR 96-2p).

The Information Provided by Your Treating Doctor

At a disability hearing, your Houston Social Security attorney will have an opportunity to question any medical expert who is called to testify about your impairment. Your own treating doctors evaluation may be brought into question, but unless some discrepancy is found this evaluation will be given a high degree of consideration. Even before, at the initial consideration level, your treating doctors opinion will play a part in determining your eligibility.

SSA may ask your doctor numerous questions about your impairment. Here is a small sampling of the kinds of questions that might be asked:

Call for Legal Assistance

While you may not initially feel the need for legal help with a SSDI application, a Houston Social Security attorney can prove invaluable when you need to appeal. Call Dana Speer for a consultation today at 713-857-2123.

Dana Speer

713-857-2123 Direct Line
877-373-5105 Direct Fax