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Archive for September, 2010

IOM proposes changes to SSDI eligibility for HIV patients

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Good news for HIV patients?

Perhaps.

IOM proposes changes

According to a Sept. 24 post at a lesbian/gay/bi/trans/ (LGBT) site reporting from Dallas, Texas, the Institute of Medicine has an idea to further HIV patients qualifications for Social Security programs.

At The Aids Beacon ( aidsbeacon.com), they’re saying, “The report recommends new criteria for determining whether an HIV-positive individual qualifies for disability benefits. The new guidelines also suggest reevaluation of disability status for most people with HIV every three years.”

Proposal woould include new patients only

However, if you, friends or loved ones are affected, rein in your hopes for long-term patients–this would apply to new apps, only:

“If adopted by the Social Security Administration (SSA), the guidelines would apply only to new applications; they would not be applied retroactively to people with HIV who are already receiving disability benefits.”

Here’s the .edu page for the institute, where you can find two links: this one is to the Sept. 13 paper entitled “HIV and Disability: Updating the Social Security Listings.” The second is to a Sept. 16 report called “HIV Screening and Access to Care: Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Expanded HIV Testing.”

Listings of Impairments

According to AidsBeacon.com:

To determine if someone is eligible to receive disability, SSA consults its lists of health conditions, called Listings of Impairments. Individuals who are not working and who have a medical condition included in the Listings are usually considered disabled by SSA, and they can be approved for benefits more quickly and in fewer steps.

The HIV Infection Listings, created in 1993, are the guidelines used to determine whether people with HIV are considered disabled and eligible for disability benefits. At the time they were created, people infected with HIV usually died within a few years due to AIDS-related illnesses.

IOM says Infection Listings outdated

There’s a bunch of useful info at these sites, with AidsBeacon taking the lead at sorting it out. For example, the IOM prelim page says, “In its report, the IOM finds that the HIV Infection Listings, which were developed in 1993, no longer adequately reflect medical reality. Over the past 15 years, advances in therapy have changed the course of HIV infection, and more people are living longer with HIV/AIDS. But their treatments require lifelong daily medications that may have significant side effects. The IOM recommends that SSA incorporate assessments of a claimant’s work-related functional capacity in the HIV Infection Listings. The IOM also identifies a series of actions that SSA can take to maximize the utility of the HIV Infection Listings.”

Proposal aims to clarify eligibility

But the AidsBeacon site further explains:

Under the current guidelines, a person with HIV must have a confirmed HIV-positive diagnosis and an illness that indicates their immune system has been compromised in order to be considered a disabled person.

These illnesses include opportunistic infections (infections that do not usually develop in individuals with healthy immune systems) and AIDS-defining cancers. The Listings contain a list of recognized AIDS-related opportunistic infections and cancers.

With the new recommendations, an applicant would be eligible for benefits if he or she has one of the following conditions:

  • A CD4 (white blood cell) count at or below 50 cells per microliter of blood, a threshold that indicates an advanced stage of illness
  • One of a few rare but fatal or severely disabling HIV-associated conditions, such as dementia or certain types of AIDS-related cancers. The committee advises that benefits for these diseases should be permanent.
  • An HIV-associated condition, such as heart disease or hepatitis, that is already covered by another section of SSA’s full Listing of Impairments
  • An HIV-associated condition, such as wasting syndrome, that is not already included in another section but that significantly impairs a person’s ability to function.

‘Consistency across ages’

Children who receive disability benefits must reapply upon turning 18.  From the .pdf of the brief of the report, “The IOM report recommends that to allow for a smooth transition, the HIV Infection Listing used for children should follow as closely as possible to that for adults. However, conditions specific to children and not found in adults should be retained. Such child-specific conditions should include neurological manifestations of HIV infection and HIV-related growth disturbances, and age-appropriate CD4 cell counts should be used in determining disability.”

Text found confusing

The report also takes aim at the preliminary text to the detailed listings. Acknowledging that the text “helps guide interpretations of how the listings are implemented,” the IOM also finds that the text is “confusing, disjointed, and difficult to read.” Therefore, the group recommends that  “SSA should rewrite the introductory text with the aims of simplifying and reorganizing the text to address appropriate audiences.”

More access to data

The group also wants the SSA to change its data-access policy, presumably without risking personal privacy, in a way that would benefit all patients.

Additionally, SSA collects data on each claim submitted, and evaluating these data can be important in identifying trends and patterns in the management and care of HIV infection. Such insight can help in detecting newly emerging clinical manifestations of HIV infection, assessing long-term adverse events of treatment, determining the consequences of nonadherence and resistance to HIV therapies, and informing future changes to the Listings. To aid in these efforts, SSA should revise its current policy of not making its data publicly available, as allowing wider access to outside groups and analysts could result in improving the timeliness and applicability of the HIV Infection Listings.

Group leader questions CD4 count

The LGBT site takes all this with a wary eye. “AIDS Arms Executive Directors Raeline Nobles said current regulations allow disability for people with a CD4 count of 200. She said that she sees many people now who can get along OK with a CD4 count of 100.

“ ‘But politically, it might be a way to cut some expensive corners,’ she said.

“She said reassessing over time might be reasonable.

“ ‘Over time some do get better,’ she said. ‘But 50 seems awfully low to me.’ ”

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Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and Receiving Social Security Disability

Monday, September 27th, 2010
Anatomy of the biliary tree, liver and gall bl...
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Your liver is the largest glandular organ in your body. It is located on the right side of your abdominal cavity beneath your diaphragm.

Your liver does many things. It produces urea (the main substance of urine), makes certain amino acids (building blocks of protein), filters harmful substances from your blood, breaks down fats, converts glucose to glycogen, stores minerals and vitamins and maintains the right level of glucose in your blood.

Your bile ducts are tubes inside of your liver that are used to transport bile. Bile is a substance that is produced in your liver. It is essential to the proper digestion of fats. Bile also helps your body to eliminate worn-out red blood cells, toxins and cholesterol.

Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic (ongoing, continuing) disease that causes your bile ducts inside of your liver to become damaged, irritated and inflamed (swollen). This blocks the flow of bile and damages cells in your liver. The bile ducts in your liver are slowly destroyed. The result is that harmful substances can build up inside of your liver and result in cirrhosis (irreversible scarring of your liver).

Primary biliary cirrhosis is much more common in women than men. In fact, more than 90% of the people with this disease are women. It is most prevalent in middle-aged people between the ages of 35 and 60, although children and older adults can get primary biliary cirrhosis.

Some people do not experience any signs and symptoms for years after they have been diagnosed with primary biliary cirrhosis. Other people have signs and symptoms near the beginning of this chronic disease. Some of the signs and symptoms that you may experience are:

  • Sicca syndrome (dry mouth and eyes)
  • Blotchy, darker skin (hyperpigmentation)
  • Itching
  • Edema (swollen feet)
  • Jaundice (yellowing of your skin and the whites of your eyes)
  • Fatigue
  • Xanthomas (cholesterol deposits)
  • Ascites (swollen abdomen)
  • Digestive problems like steatorrhea (foul-smelling, greasy stools) and diarrhea
  • Fatty deposits under your skin
  • Abdominal pain
  • An enlarged liver.

You or your loved one may be suffering from primary biliary cirrhosis. This disease and/or complications resulting from it may be why you are disabled and cannot work. It may be why you need help.

Do you or your loved one plan on applying for financial assistance from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by primary biliary cirrhosis and/or complications resulting from this disease? Have you or your loved one already tried this and been denied?

If you or your loved one is thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, think about this. People who are represented by a disability attorney like the one you will find at Social Security Home are approved more often than people who do not have a disability lawyer.

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More California chicanery; Iraq vet files suit, waits on VA

Friday, September 24th, 2010

The “Grim Sleeper” case, which we discussed here, raised hackles in Los Angeles, with many there already upset about perceived excesses of the city’s pension system.

Now Los Angeles County prosecutors are looking into Randy Adams, unlike the suspect in the Grim Sleeper slayings, is a man who not only used to wear a law officer’s badge but also was police chief in Glendale City, CA, then subsequently in Bell, about a 35-mile drive south from Los Angeles.

According to a Sept. 24 article in The Los Angeles Times, the DA’s office is “investigating former Bell Police Chief Randy Adams for having himself declared disabled for the job the day he was hired, an arrangement that could pay him millions in tax-free pension money, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Thursday.”

A deal with city administrator

This is one of those strange onions that yields layers of weird: Earlier in the week the Times had reported “that Adams struck a deal with former Bell City Administrator Robert Rizzo that guaranteed the incoming chief a disability retirement because of injuries he sustained years earlier. Under such a retirement, he would not have to pay taxes on half his pension income.”

Why, one might wonder–not to mention how–would someone be hired to work if he can’t work?

“Disability pensions are designed for employees who must give up a job because of a work-related injury, and the tax break is intended to compensate them for lost earnings, said representatives of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System,” according to the Times.

New salary? $457,000

Adams logged six years’ duty in Glendale City, with a police force described as much larger than Bell’s, yet his his reported $457,000 annual salary at Bell was about double that of the Glendale City job .  The city manager there was indirectly quoted in the article, saying that Adams “was not disabled and had never indicated to him that he should be entitled to a medical retirement.”

However, reports the Times:

Adams, 59, entered into the pact with Rizzo even though he had filed for a less lucrative non-disability retirement as he prepared to leave his job as Glendale police chief. That application was approved, but he rescinded it the same month his service officially ended in Glendale and he went to work for Bell in 2009, Glendale and state pension officials say.

Facing a civil suit while others face criminal charges

The California attorney general has filed a civil suit on Rizzo, Adams and others. Rizzo and Adams resigned their municipal positions following the newspapers reports of their high salaries. Salaries and pensions in Southern California have come under increasing inquiry and public condemnation in the past year.

In addition to Rizzo’s and Adam’s troubles, “Eight current and former Bell, California, city officials arrested and charged Tuesday with misappropriation of funds and making or receiving illegal loans demonstrated “corruption on steroids,” the Los Angeles County district attorney said,” according to a Sept. 21 CNN story. Here’s another story, indicating that Rizzo has been charged–separate from the civil case–and reported to considered a flight risk.

Iraq duty leads to lawsuit over toxic burn pit

On the flip side of the coin, the military gets its share of abuse in fighting for disability.

Air Force vet Tim Wymore is “one of hundreds of veterans in 42 states suing the military contractor [Kellogg Brown & Root] that operated many of the burn pits” they contend have damaged them via exposure to toxic chemicals, according to a Sept 24 post at FairWarning.org. “The lawsuit contends that the veterans’ illnesses were caused by the mixture of fumes from plastics, solvents, medical waste and other trash burned at the pits. A federal judge ruled last week that the case could proceed. The contractor has said it was following the military’s instructions and bears no legal responsibility.”

A litany of medical problems

According to a Sept. 12 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, the 44-year-old Iraq War veteran “has three lesions on his brain, another on his eye. He suffers from a blood disorder, a damaged esophagus and abdominal problems that led to the removal of most of his colon. He can barely stand, and then only with the aid of a cane.”

One of Wymore’s big concerns–beyond what he believes is his own imminent death– is that “should he die, the VA will not pay a survivor’s benefit to his wife unless she can prove his death is directly related to his military service, a challenge he doesn’t want to put her through,” says the Post-Dispatch.

VA hopes he will get better

Get this. The VA acknowledges that Wymore does indeed have duty-related health problems. “But the VA believes his condition may improve. Because of that, the VA has yet to declare Wymore permanently disabled. As a result, his family is not eligible for many benefits. Those include medical insurance for his wife and college costs for their three sons.”

The VA has said it will review his status in 2012 to see whether he has improved.

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Gastroparesis and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Friday, September 24th, 2010
Location of the Pancreas Esophagus Thoracic di...
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Your stomach is an organ of digestion. Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breaking down of food into smaller components so that it can be absorbed into your blood stream.

Your stomach is an elastic, muscular, pear-shaped bag that lies crosswise beneath your diaphragm in your abdominal cavity. It is located between your intestines and your esophagus.

Your stomach changes its shape and size according to what position your body is in. At its widest point, your stomach is about 6 inches wide and 12 inches long. In an adult, your stomach’s capacity is about 1 quart.

Food enters your stomach from your esophagus. Gastric juices are then used to break down the food. The other end of your stomach empties into the duodenum, which is the first part of your small intestine.

Gastroparesis is a condition in which the ability of your stomach to empty its contents is affected. Your stomach muscles do not function as they should.

Normally, your stomach muscles contract and move food through your digestive tract. With gastroparesis, the muscles in the wall of your stomach do not work properly or not at all.

Gastroparesis is estimated to affect around 4% of the population of the United States. 25 to 55% of people with type 1 diabetes and 30% of people with type 2 diabetes have this condition.

No one knows what causes gastroparesis. A possible cause is a disruption of nerve signals to your intestine. This involves your vagus nerve, which controls your stomach muscles.

Your vagus nerve can be damaged by different things. These include diabetes and surgery to your small intestine or stomach.

There are several different signs and symptoms that you may experience with gastroparesis. Some of these are:

§  Gastroesophageal reflux or heartburn

§  Malnutrition and unintentional weigh loss

§  Lack of appetite

§  Vomiting

§  Abdominal bloating

§  Feeling like you are full when you have only eaten a few bites

§  Nausea

§  Changes in your blood sugar levels.

You or a loved one may be suffering from gastroparesis. This condition and/or complications resulting from or other conditions along with it may be the reason for your disability. Gastroparesis may be preventing you from working.

You may need assistance if this is true. You may need financial help.

You or your loved one may have decided to apply for the financial assistance that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by gastroparesis and/or complications resulting from or other conditions along with it. Have you or your loved one applied already and been denied by the Social Security Administration?

If you or your loved one intends to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration, think about this important fact. People who have a disability attorney working for them like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability lawyer.

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Lewy Body Dementia and Receiving Social Security Disability

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
Immunohistochemistry for alpha-synuclein showi...
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One of the most distressing and disheartening things that you will ever hear is when the doctor tells you that your loved one has dementia. If this is the case, there are probably many questions that you have about this disorder.

Dementia is the progressive decline in cognitive function due to disease or damage in the brain that is greater than what might be expected from normal aging. Cognitive function refers to how a person comes to interpret and know things.

With dementia, the knowing or cognitive areas that can be affected include memory, attention, problem solving and language. In the later stages of dementia, people can often be disoriented in time (not knowing what day of the week, month or year it is).  They may also become disoriented in place and person (not knowing where they are or who they are).

Lewy body dementia is a progressive brain disease that is closely related to both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. It is characterized by the presence of Lewy bodies. These are clumps of alpha-synuclein and ubiquitin protein that are located in neurons in the brain.

Lewy body dementia is known by several other names. It is also called dementia with Lewy bodies, diffuse Lewy body disease, senile dementia of Lewy type and cortical Lewy body disease.

Lewy body dementia is one of the most common kinds of progressive dementia. It is estimated to affect 1.3 million people and their families in the United States.

There are several different signs and symptoms that your loved one may have with Lewy body dementia. Some of these are:

§  A progressive decline in cognitive function like memory loss, reduced attention span and confusion

§  Having visual hallucinations that may consist of seeing people, animals, colors or shapes

§  Problems with movement that include rigid muscles, a shuffling walk, slowed movement or tremors

§  A sleep disorder that causes your loved one to physically act out their dreams when they are asleep

§  Having delusions that may involve false ideas about a situation or another person

§  Depression.

You may have a loved one with Lewy body dementia. This disease and/or complications that have resulted from it may be why your loved one is disabled and unable to work.

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

You may have decided to apply for financial assistance from the Social Security Administration for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits on behalf of your loved one because of the disability caused by Lewy body dementia and/or complications that have resulted from this disease. Have you already done this, and your loved one was denied by the Social Security Administration?

If you intend to appeal the denial on behalf of your loved one, consider this. People who are represented by a disability attorney like the one at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often that people who do not have a disability lawyer.

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Corticobasal Degeneration and Receiving Social Security Disability

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) is a rare progressive neurodegenerative disease. It is marked by nerve cell loss and atrophy of several areas of the brain. This includes the cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia.

The outer layer (cortex) of the brain is severely affected. This is especially true of the fronto-parietal regions. These are located near the center-top of the head. Deeper regions of the brain are also affected. This includes the basal ganglia. This is where the name “corticobasal” comes from.

Corticobasal degeneration usually progresses slowly. It is the combined loss of brain tissue in all of the affected areas of the brain that causes the signs and symptoms of corticobasal degeneration.

Corticobasal degeneration is similar genetically, pathologically and clinically to frontotemporal dementia. Frontotemporal dementia is an umbrella term for a diverse group of uncommon disorders that are a type of dementia that primarily affect the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain.

Dementia is a loss of brain function that is a feature of certain diseases. It affects language, behavior, thinking and judgment.

Corticobasal degeneration usually occurs when a person is between the ages of 45 and 70. Women are affected more often than men.

No one knows what causes corticobasal degeneration. There is no strong evidence at this time that this disease is inherited. There are also no known risk factors like infections or toxins that have been identified at the present time for corticobasal degeneration.

There have been studies of brain tissue of people with this disease that show certain characteristic cell changes that involve a brain protein called tau. This may give some help to researchers who are searching for the cause or causes of corticobasal degeneration.

The initial signs and symptoms of corticobasal degeneration are usually unilateral (one-sided). As the disease advances, signs and symptoms become bilateral (both sides). Some of the signs and symptoms include:

  • Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
  • Memory loss
  • Poor coordination
  • Slow, clumsy or shaky movements
  • Rigidity or stiffness
  • Halting and hesitant speech
  • Difficulty with comprehension
  • Loss of intellectual ability
  • Problems with balance
  • Visual-spatial impairment
  • Loss of movement control.

You may have a loved one with corticobasal degeneration. This disease and/or complications that have resulted from it may be causing your loved one’s disability.

As a result, you may need assistance for and with your loved one. You may need financial help.

You may have thought about applying for the financial assistance that you need from the Social Security Administration for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits on behalf of your loved one because of the disability caused by corticobasal degeneration and/or complications that have resulted from this disease. You may have already done this, and your loved one was denied by the Social Security Administration.

If you appeal the denial on behalf of your loved one, think about this. People who are represented by a disability attorney like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often that people who do not have a disability lawyer.

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Ventricular Septal Defect and Receiving Social Security Disability

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Your heart has four chambers. The upper right and left chambers are called an atrium. The lower left and right chambers are called a ventricle.

When your heart is normal, your right and left chambers are completely separated from one another by a wall of muscle that is called a septum. The right and left atrium are separated by the atrial septum, and the right and left ventricle are separated by the ventricular septum.

It is normal for all infants to be born having a small hole in the atrial septum. This hole usually closes during the first few weeks of an infant’s life. It is not normal for an infant to be born with a hole in the ventricular septum.

When this happens, it is referred to as a ventricular septal defect (VSD). It is also commonly called a hole in the heart. This is a condition where there are one or more holes (defects) in the ventricular septum.

A ventricular septal defect is present at birth. Defects present at birth are referred to as congenital.

A ventricular septal defect is the most common congenital heart defect in infants. About 8 out of every 1,000 babies are born with heart defects. About 30% of those babies have a VSD.

There are different kinds of ventricular septal defects. This is determined by where they are located inside of the ventricular septum. Ventricular septum defects are also different in size. A VSD can occur by itself or along with other congenital defects and conditions.

Depending on the size and location of you or your child with disability’s ventricular septal defect, you may not have any signs or symptoms. If you do have signs and symptoms, you or your child with disability may experience:

  • Failure to gain weight
  • Perspiring while eating
  • Shortness of breath
  • Frequent respiratory infections
  • Paleness
  • Pounding heart
  • Hard breathing
  • Fast heart rate
  • Fast breathing
  • Swelling of abdomen, feet or legs
  • Tiring easily
  • Eating poorly
  • Failure to thrive.

You or your child with disability may have a ventricular septal defect. This defect and/or complications resulting from it may be why you or your child with disability is disabled.

If this is true, you may need help. You may need financial assistance.

Have you applied for financial help from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits on behalf of you or your child with disability because of the disability caused by a ventricular septal defect and/or complications resulting from it? Were you or your child with disability turned down by the Social Security Administration?

If you appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration, think about this. People who are represented by a disability lawyer like the one at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who do not have a disability attorney standing with them.

Please do not hesitate. Contact the disability lawyer at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

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Economy trouble for SSDI: Applications rose almost in tandem with total unemployment from 2008 to 2009

Friday, September 17th, 2010

A 21-per cent jump, from 2008 to 2009, in applications for Social Security Disability Insurance has spooked authorities and pundits around the country.

The lede of a Sept. 14 piece in The Washington Post reads, “The number of former workers seeking Social Security disability benefits has spiked with the nation’s economic problems, heightening concern that the jobless are expanding the program beyond its intended purpose of aiding the disabled.”

Worried officials

The next day, this was posted at PoynterOnline: “In just one year, from 2008 to 2009, Social Security disability applications rose by 21 percent. That is a big problem. While only half of applicants get the benefits they seek, officials are worried that the growth threatens to sink the program. Disability claims are for people who have a ‘substantial work history’ and ‘a medical issue that prevents them from holding a job for at least a year.’ ”

SSDI called ‘hidden welfare’

However, a day before the WP story came out, Slate ran its own take on the SSDI program, a caustic account headlined thus: “America’s Hidden Welfare Program: Social Security’s disability insurance is expensive, destructive, and out of control.”

Describing SSDI recipients as those “millions of Americans without work [who] have quietly continued to cash a federal check every month . . . [and who] don’t show up in the unemployment statistics—not even as ‘discouraged’ workers—and . . . [whose] benefits won’t stop after 99 weeks,” the Slate piece profiles the SSDI progam, beginning with recipients:

They are the recipients of Social Security’s Disability Insurance, a somewhat obscure federal program that nonetheless eats up nearly $200 billion a year. SSDI began in 1956 and was intended to provide benefits for people between 50 and 64 who’d been in the workforce but had developed “any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or to be of long-continued and indefinite duration.” At the end of the first year, there were 150,000 Americans receiving SSDI benefits. As Congress serially widened the eligibility criteria—by age, by type and duration of impairment—that number began to grow. Enrollment hit 1 million adults in 1966; by the end of 1977 it was 2.8 million; and today it’s more than 8 million ex-workers, plus another million disabled adult offspring and disabled widows and widowers.

A very real fiscal crisis

The Slate piece also says, “With the annual commitments now at about $180 billion, SSDI represents, as the authors of a 2006 economics journal paper put it, a ‘fiscal crisis.’ ” Now, that we can agree on–we’ve written about the mental balancing act required to ignore the politically motivated exaggerations about the threat of the collapsing Social Security general retirement fund while addressing the very real and pressing needs of the SSDI program. However, we couldn’t disagree more with the Slate piece’s next assertion: “Equally distressing, it also represents public policy run amok. Over the last few decades, a program that was designed to help a relatively small group of people who were fatally sick or permanently unable to work has evolved into a backdoor welfare program in which a huge number of people are paid not to get jobs.”

The WP article points out that “Though policymakers anticipated the program’s rolls growing with the aging of the baby-boom population, they suspect the current surge has less to do with any worsening in the health of the workforce than with the poor health of the economy.” The article also says SSA officials are confident in their procedures to ensure screening out unqualified applicants. Given recent concerns raised by a GAO report, we’re not so sure. But it is fairly easy to understand why applications might spike during a financial crisis.

Marginal workers

“But, [SSA officials] acknowledge, when jobs are scarce, more workers who might otherwise struggle through with their ailments try to secure disability benefits,” reports the WP.

“In bad times, the disability rolls are swollen by ‘a lot of older workers who are very much on the margins. Often, they are the first people laid off,’ Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said. ‘They can’t find any new work and they are desperate. So they have every incentive to try and get in the program.’ ”

That hardly conjures images of the millions of freeloading scum implied by the Slate article. For one thing, as the writer concedes in this sentence, “Granted, no one gets rich off SSDI—the average monthly check is about $1,000,” there’s simply not enough at stake to tempt millions of otherwise able-bodied workers to risk getting busted for a federal crime.

Second, it’s not as though recipients are picking up free money–anyone who (finally) makes it through all the hurdles and hoops is getting a benefit already qualified for by having worked the necessary amount of quarters.

Finding experienced, trained attorneys

The Poynter post sums it up pretty well: “You might consider looking into the cumbersome process that Social Security disability claimants must go through. It is a system that is set up to weed out the non-worthy, but for those who really need the help, the process can be tough. In most communities you will find law firms that specialize in handling disability claims. No doubt, they would be able to guide you toward some of the more interesting cases near you.”

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Hyperkalemia and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Hyperkalemia is a condition where you have too much potassium in your blood. Most of the potassium in your body (98 percent) is found within your organs and cells. Usually, only a small amount of potassium circulates in your bloodstream. Potassium helps your muscle and nerve cells, including your heart, to function properly.

Your kidneys usually maintain the levels of potassium in your blood. If your have kidney disease, however, potassium levels can build up. Kidney disease is the most common cause of hyperkalemia. Diet or medications can also affect the amount of potassium in your blood.

The normal potassium level in your blood is 3.5-5.0 milliequivalents per liter (mEq/L). Potassium levels that are between 5.1 mEq/L to 6.0 mEq/L are an indication of mild hyperkalemia. Potassium levels of 6.1 mEq/L to 7.0 mEq/L mean moderate hyperkalemia, and levels above 7 mEq/L are severe hyperkalemia.

Hyperkalemia is a common condition. It is diagnosed in up to 8% of hospitalized patients in the United States. Fortunately, most patients have mild hyperkalemia (which is usually well tolerated). However, any condition causing even mild hyperkalemia needs to be treated to stop progression into more severe hyperkalemia.

Hyperkalemia may not affect you. Or, it may have vague effects like:

  • Fatigue
  • Muscle weakness
  • Nausea
  • Tingling sensations.

There are more serious effects caused by hyperkalemia that you may experience including weak pulse and slow heartbeat. Severe hyperkalemia can lead to fatal cardiac standstill (heart stoppage).

Usually, a slow rise in potassium level (such as with chronic kidney failure) is better tolerated than an abrupt rise in potassium levels. However, unless the rise in potassium levels has been very rapid, the effects of hyperkalemia are usually not visible until potassium levels are very high (typically 7.0 mEq/l or higher). The signs and symptoms that you may experience can also reflect the underlying medical conditions that are causing your hyperkalemia.

Hyperkalemia and/or the conditions that have caused it may have reached a point where you or a loved one is unable to work. Hyperkalemia may be the cause of your disability.

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

Have you or your loved one applied for financial assistance from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by hyperkalemia and/or the conditions that have caused it? Were you or your loved one denied?

If you or your loved one is planning on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, here is something you need to keep in mind. People who are represented by a disability attorney like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than those people who are without a lawyer.

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Myelofibrosis and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Myelofibrosis is a serious bone marrow disorder that disrupts the normal production of blood cells by your body. Your bone marrow undergoes fibrosis. This means that fibrous scar tissue replaces the blood-producing cells in your bone marrow. This results in anemia, abnormally shaped red blood cells and an enlarged spleen.

When your bone marrow is normal, cells called fibroblasts produce fibrous (connective) tissue that supports your blood-producing cells. These fibroblasts produce too much fibrous tissue with myelofibrosis. When this happens it crowds out your blood-producing cells. As a result, your red blood cell production decreases, fewer red blood cells are released into your bloodstream, and anemia develops, becoming progressively more severe.

In addition to this, many of these red blood cells are misshapen or immature. Variable numbers of immature platelets and white blood cells may also be present in your blood. The number of your white blood cells may decrease or increase, and the number of your platelets usually decreases as myelofibrosis gets worse.

Myelofibrosis is also known by other names. It is also referred to as myeloid metaplasia, chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis and primary myelofibrosis.

Myelofibrosis was first described in 1879. It is currently classified as a myeloproliferative disease.

Myelofibrosis is a rare disease. It affects 2 out of 100,000 people in the United States. Myelofibrosis can occur at any age, but it usually affects people over age 50.

Myelofibrosis usually develops slowly. Many people do not have any effects in the early stages of this disorder. However, as myelofibrosis progresses, you may experience some of these signs and symptoms that include:

  • Fever
  • Pain in your bones
  • Easy bleeding
  • Easy bruising
  • An enlarged liver
  • An enlarged spleen that causes fullness or pain below your ribs on your left side
  • Shortness of breath, feeling weak and tired as a result of anemia
  • Frequent infections
  • Night sweats (excessive sweating during sleep)
  • Pale skin.

You or a loved one may have myelofibrosis. This disease may be the reason why you or your loved one is disabled and unable to work.

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

You or your loved one may have applied for that financial help from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by myelofibrosis. Were you or your loved one denied?

If you or your loved one is planning on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, consider this. You or your loved one will need the representation of a disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com because people who have a disability attorney representing them are approved more often than those without a lawyer.

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