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Archive for June, 2009

Cardiomyopathy and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Cardiomyopathy literally means “heart muscle disease”. Cardiomyopathy is the deterioration of the function of your actual heart muscle (myocardium). This medical condition impairs your heart’s ability to pump blood.

There are three major types of cardiomyopathy:

§  Dilated cardiomyopathy is when your heart’s main pumping chamber becomes dilated (enlarged), and its pumping ability becomes impaired.  It is the first and most common form of cardiomyopathy.

§  Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is where there is abnormal growth or thickening of your heart muscle. In particular, it affects the muscle of your left ventricle. This causes your heart to stiffen, and the size of your pumping chamber may shrink interfering with your heart’s ability to pump blood.

§  Restrictive cardiomyopathy is when your heart muscle becomes rigid and less elastic.  This interferes with the filling and expansion of your heart’s ventricles with blood between contractions or heartbeats.

Some people do not experience any effects in the early stages of cardiomyopathy.  Signs and symptoms do usually appear as cardiomyopathy progresses. When cardiomyopathy does affect you, the signs and symptoms are like those of congestive heart failure. Some of these are:

§  Irregular heart rhythm

§  Distention of your abdomen with fluid

§  Breathlessness with exertion or even during rest

§  Dizziness, fainting and lightheadedness

§  Fatigue

§  Swelling of your lower extremities.

These effects produced by cardiomyopathy usually grow worse with time. For some people this deterioration accelerates rapidly, while others reach a plateau and stabilize for a long time. For some people with dilated cardiomyopathy, the disorder may actually get better.

Obviously, the effects caused by cardiomyopathy can reach a point where you are unable to work. Cardiomyopathy may be the cause of you or your loved one’s disability.

If this is true, you or your loved one may need help. You may need financial assistance.

Who will you turn to for this financial help? Where will it come from? Who can you look to?

Have you or your loved one considered applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by cardiomyopathy? Have you or your loved one already done this and been denied by the Social Security Administration?

You may be wondering what to do next? Do you have any recourse? What options are open to you?

One step that you or your loved one can take is to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you decide to do this, here is something important for you to think about.

You or your loved one is going to need a qualified disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com to represent you in what can prove to be a long and exasperating process. This is true because people who have a proven disability attorney on their side are approved more often than those people who do not have a lawyer.

Do not delay. Contact the reliable disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

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Posted in Cardiovascular | No Comments »

Real Life Norman Bates Renews Mothers License, Cashes Checks Since 2003

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

A strange impersonation case looks like a real life version of a character made famous by Anthony Perkins portrayal in the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.

Thomas Prusik is accused of forging his mother’s death certificate and impersonating her to continue collecting her Social Security checks since her death in 2003. He even went so far as to impersonate her to renew her driver’s license in April of this year.

Seems strange that someone could get away with that type of fraud for 6 years.

It might have gone on longer had he not been involved in a criminal investigation connected to a foreclosure case.

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Receiving Social Security Disability For Your Chronic Liver Disease

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Chronic liver disease is an umbrella term that can refer to any one of a number of liver diseases. These liver diseases are slow progressing. They usually continue for a long period of time.

The result of chronic liver disease is a progressive destruction of your liver. There is also a regeneration of your liver parenchyma that leads to fibrosis and cirrhosis. This destruction of your liver will probably take place over a period of several years.

The effects of chronic liver disease can reach a stage where they are debilitating. In fact, you or a loved one may be at a point, right now, where you cannot work. Chronic liver disease and/or complications caused by or associated with it may be the reason for you or your loved one’s disability.

There is an extensive list of liver diseases that fall under the heading of chronic liver disease. Some of these include:

  • Cirrhosis
  • Alcoholic liver disease
  • Hepatitis B and C
  • Liver cancer
  • Epstein Barr Virus
  • Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
  • Primary sclerosing cholangitis
  • Wilson’s disease

The signs and symptoms of chronic liver disease do not usually appear until the disease has progressed for a while. Then you may begin to be affected by several signs and symptoms. Some of these are:

  • Loss of appetite
  • Fatigue
  • Nausea
  • Dry mouth
  • Jaundice
  • Mental confusion
  • Excessive thirst
  • Abdominal pain and tenderness.

Have you or your loved one thought about applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by chronic liver disease and/or complications caused by or associated with this condition? Have you or your loved one already done this and been denied by the Social Security Administration?

You or your loved one may be wondering what to do next? Do you have any recourse? What options are open to you?

One option that you or your loved one have open to you is to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you decide to do this, here is something important for you to think about.

You or your loved one is going to need a qualified disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com to represent and advise you in what can prove to be a long and exasperating process. The reason for this being true is because people who have a proven disability attorney on their side are approved more often than those people who do not have a lawyer.

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Posted in Digestive | No Comments »

Social Security Administration job classifications: Unskilled, Semi-Skilled and Skilled Work

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Anyone who is attempting to get Social Security Disability needs to understand that their ability to work depends upon the type of employment that they are qualified to do.

The Social Security Administration divides work into three separate categories. These classifications include: unskilled labor, semi-skilled labor and skilled labor. In determining if you are disabled, the Social Security Administration will review your relevant work skills and past jobs to determine what jobs you may qualify to do in the future.

Unskilled Labor

Unskilled labor is any type of work that can be completed with little or no prior acquired skills. This will include job tasks that are simple enough to be learned in thirty days or less. Unskilled jobs will not provide transferable job skills and will require very little vocational training or preparation. Examples of unskilled labor can include

  • Clerk
  • Dishwasher
  • Laundry worker
  • Hand Packer

 

Semi-skilled Labor

Semi-skilled labor will be more complex than unskilled labor but will still require very few skills to complete relatively simple tasks. Semi-skilled jobs may require more than thirty days to learn and may require additional training to work with co-workers, data and management. These jobs could include paying close attention to machines, and work processes. A semi-skilled worker may also need dexterity, coordination and the ability to perform repetitive tasks. Examples of semi-skilled work may include:

  • Control Inspector
  • Typist
  • Truck Driver
  • Carpenter
  • Waitress

 

Skilled Labor

Skilled jobs will be much more complex than unskilled or semi-skilled labor. Skilled labor will require an individual to think, process information, make precise measurements, Work well with data, facts, and abstract ideas. A skilled job can be extremely complex and require years of training or education.

  • Engineer
  • Pilot
  • Doctor
  • Computer Programmers
  • Teacher
  • Architects
  • CEO of a business

 

Why are these job qualifications important to you if you are applying for Social Security Disability Benefits? Because if you are applying for Social Security Disability Benefits, you will need to prove that you are unable to work any type of job available in the current economy. If the Social Security Administration (SSA) determines you can not perform the job you performed in the past due to your physical and mental health conditions, the Social Security Administration will use a process called the sequential evaluation process to evaluate your ability to a new job. Your jobs skills, education and past relevant work history will all help determine if you can be trained to do other types of jobs.

Under the Sequential Evaluation process the Social Security Administration will review the types of jobs you have done in the past and if you have any job skills which can transfer to a new occupation or job. If the Social Security Administration decides given your age, job skills and educational background, you could be retrained for new employment and make more than $980 gross per month than they will determine you are not disabled.

If the Social Security Administration decides that given your physical or mental health conditions, your age, education, transferable job skills and work history, you are unable to perform a new job, they will determine that you are disabled.

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What happens if I try to work while applying for Social Security disability benefits?

Friday, June 5th, 2009

You can work and still apply for Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income. You also may be able to continue working and receive Social Security Disability Benefits. The Social Security Administration will determine if you are eligible for benefits by determining if you are able to engage in substantial gainful activity (SGA).

Substantial gainful activity for individuals who are blind is currently $1,640 (this amount does not apply to Supplemental Security Income benefits). For individuals who are not blind, the monthly substantial gainful activity amount for 2009, is $980 before taxes. If you are making more than the allocated SGA limits the Social Security Administration will automatically deny your benefits and consider you not disabled. For updated SGA annual amounts please review SSA’s pulication 05-10003.

Unfortunately, if you are still working after you apply for Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income for practical purposes, it may hurt your chances of approval. To receive Social Security Disability benefits the Administrative Law Judge (at the hearing level) or the case examiner at the Social Security Disability application level will be examining your case to determine if you could do any type of work full time. Full time is forty hours per week, which is eight hours, five days a week. The jobs the Administrative Law Judge can consider could be unskilled jobs which could be done sitting, with little or no training, and low stress. Examples of unskilled labor can include the following jobs:

  • Taper, printed circuit layout
  • Textile Inspector
  • Call-out Operator
  • Egg Processor
  • Polisher,
  • Order puller

The Social Security Administration could argue you could these jobs with little skill or interaction with a boss, or co-worker. If you are currently working part time at a low skilled job, making $800 per month, the Administrative Law Judge may decide that you could work a little bit more with a little more effort. If he makes this decision, he will conclude you are not disabled.

Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income benefits are for individuals who are unable to work. If you are able to do any type of work over the SGA amount, even if it is a job you have not done before or one you may not be interested in doing, if it is something you could qualify for based on your age, educational background and work history, you will probably not be eligible for Social Security Disability benefits. Your Social Security Disability Attorneys job in your Social Security Disability Hearing is to convince the Administrative Law Judge you are unable to do any type of job full time. This can include even a low stress, simple, unskilled job.

Many individuals have tried several attempts to go back to work and have been unable to maintain employment due to their physical or mental disability. Multiple unsuccessful attempts to return to work can actually help your Social Security Disability Claim. If you have tried to work, but have been unsuccessful, your willingness to try could show the Administrative Law Judge that you are motivated but simply unable to work.

If you are considering filing a Social Security Disability Application or if you have filed and have been turned down, contact a Social Security Disability Attorney who can help increase your chances of receiving either Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance at all stages of the Social Security Disability application process.

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Receiving Social Security Disability After Anal Cancer Diagnosis

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Cancer is often a frightenting diagnosis. Some people won’t talk about cancer when it shows up in a place that isn’t considered a good topic for “polite conversation”. Often the treatment for cancer can be more disabling than the actual disease. Getting a disability living allowance from Social Security for your disability caused by cancer can be as much of a fight as you face in trying to conquer cancer.

Hopefully, Farrah Fawcett’s struggle with anal cancer and the battle for her life will highlight how difficult and painful it is to live through the medical treatments available for the disease.

Cancer begins in your cells, the building blocks of your body. When things are going right, your body produces new cells as you need them. These new cells replace old cells that die. 

Sometimes this process does not work the way it should. Old cells do not die when they should, and new cells develop even when you do not need them.

These extra cells may form a mass called a tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant.  Benign tumors are not cancer. Malignant ones are cancer.

Cancer is not one disease, but a group of diseases. Each of these diseases is characterized by cells that are aggressive (they grow and divide without respect to normal limits), invasive (they invade and destroy adjacent tissue) and sometimes metastatic (they spread to other parts of your body).

Anal cancer is a type of cancer that develops in your anal canal. It is a disease where cancer cells form in the tissues of your anus.

Your anal canal is a short tube at the end of your rectum. It consists of the outer layers of your skin and the end of your large intestine. Your stool passes through this canal and out of your body when you go to the bathroom.

Fortunately, anal cancer is an uncommon form of cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, around 5,000 people are diagnosed with anal cancer in the United States each year.

Women are a little more likely to get anal cancer than men. The prime age for getting the disease is your early sixties.

There are several different ways that anal cancer may affect you. It may cause:

  • Pain in or around your anus
  • An itching sensation around or inside of your anus
  • A growth or mass in your anal canal
  • Bleeding from your rectum or anus
  • Anal discharge
  • A change in your bowel habits like constipation, diarrhea or thinning of your stools.

Only a small percentage of anal cancer spreads to other parts of your body. When it does happen it usually goes to your lungs and liver. Anal cancer that spreads is particularly difficult to treat.

If you or your loved one has a disabilty caused by anal cancer, you may need help. You may need financial help.

Have you applied for Social Security disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by anal cancer? Were you denied?

You may be thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you do, remember this.

You will need a smart disability lawyer to represent you in this process. The reason why this is true is because people who have a skilled disability attorney representing them are approved more often than those people without a lawyer.

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Suffering From Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome (ARDS)? You May Qualify For Social Security Disabiltiy Benefits and

Monday, June 1st, 2009

If you or a loved one is suffering from acute respiratory disease syndrom, it might be possible to receive Social Security disability benefits. If you have already filed a claim and it has been denied, contact a Social Security disability attorney for help appealing the denial of benefits.

Acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS) is breathing failure that occurs in critically ill people with underlying illnesses. Acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS) is not a specific disease, but a life-threatening condition that happens when there is severe fluid buildup in both of your lungs. This fluid buildup prevents your lungs from working properly. Your lungs do not transfer oxygen from the air into your body and carbon dioxide out of your body into the air the way they should.

About 190,000 people are affected by acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS) every year in the United States. In the past, only about 4 out of 10 people survived ARDS. Today, with proper care in a hospital intensive or critical care unit, around 7 out of 10 people survive acute respiratory disease syndrome.

Some people recover completely from ARDS. Others who survive have lasting damage to their lungs and other health problems. You or a loved one may be one of those who have survived acute respiratory disease syndrome, but have ongoing damage to your lungs or other health problems.

In fact, the problems resulting from ARDS may be to the point that you or your loved one is not able to work. ARDS and conditions resulting from or along with it may be the reason for your disability.

Some of the affects that ARDS has on you are organ failure and low blood pressure. Shortness of breath, a bluish skin color due to a low level of oxygen in your blood and labored, rapid breathing are also affects of acute respiratory disease syndrome.

ARDS usually develops when you already have an underlying, serious illness. Most of the time it occurs when you are in the hospital. However, it can develop at home with a serious accident or illness to your lungs.

It is hard to do any kind of work if you are having breathing problems or other lung problems resulting from ARDS. Other health problems may have developed as a result of acute respiratory disease syndrome that are causing you or your loved one’s disability.

If you or your loved one is disabled and unable to work, you probably need assistance. You probably need financial help.

Have you or your loved one applied for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of ARDS and conditions resulting from it. Were you or your loved one denied?

If you or your loved one is thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, here is something that you need to know. People who are represented by a knowledgeable disability attorney are approved more often than those people who are without a lawyer.

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Posted in Respiratory | No Comments »