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Home :: FAQ :: Issues - Social Security Disability Hearing

What sort of determination is that of disability?

“Disability” is an Administrative determination, not a medical one.  Life would be just  too easy if a physician were to write a note that a claimant was "disabled" and he or she could get deserved benefits.  It would not be right either because some people can afford doctors who may want to help by writing such things and some people, especially the rural poor cannot.

By way of analogy, such a system would be like having a forensic pathologist come onto the stand in a homicide case and testifying before the jury that the defendant’s DNA was found at the scene of the crime and that the defendant was guilty and then the doctor would pronounce sentence, lead the poor defendant out of the courtroom and then pull the switch, much to the astonishment of the judge and the jury.

In both cases there are laws, due process and notions of equality and fairness involved. That is why doctors are asked to give opinions on medical issues and the sorts of limitations that the claimant has or can be expected reasonably to have based on his or her diagnostic test results and clinical findings.  Judges depend heavily on such things in coming to a sound and well reasoned conclusion as to why one claimant may be disabled and why another may not be.

Finally, since a determination of disability requires vocational and earnings calculations and analysis, physicians, unless they have a graduate degree in Vocational Evaluation, cannot give an expert opinion in these regards.  For example, if I am an attorney and blind in one eye and have no leg and am missing four fingers and have a bad back requiring me to be wheelchair bound, one might say I was disabled, however; if I am able to earn pay in excess of SGA levels I am not disabled even though I can only work, lets say ten hours per month.  That is why “Disability” is wisely left to the province of a judge, else wise, there would be too many attorneys collecting SSDI benefits. J)