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Facts about Avascular Necrosis and Filing for Disability1. Avascular necrosis is a progressive, degenerative disorder that kills bone tissue. Loss of blood supply causes the tissue death, which causes tiny breaks and weakening in the bone, eventually causing the bone to collapse. 2. Avascular necrosis is also called osteonecrosis, aseptic necrosis and ischemic bone necrosis. 3. Excessive use of alcohol and steroids, injuries and trauma, and conditions such as sickle cell anemia, arthritis and lupus all contribute to blood loss from bone but it is unknown exactly what causes the condition. Sometimes it occurs without any condition or risk factors present. 4. Any bone in the body can be affected by avascular necrosis, and usually causes pain and deterioration in joints. The femur bone in the thigh is most commonly affected, causing pain in the hip and knee. Shoulder and jaw joints are also commonly affected. 5. Avascular necrosis can occur in more than one bone in the body during the lifelong course of the condition, either at the same or different times. 6. Persistent joint pain is an indicator to see a doctor. Diagnosis of avascular necrosis comes after x-rays and MRI scans of the area of the body where pain is present. 7. If avascular necrosis goes untreated, the condition can progress to severe pain and irreversible disability in the course of just a few years. 8. Treatment of avascular necrosis aims to stop the progression of bone tissue loss. If caught early, avascular necrosis can be treated through pain medications, rest and targeted exercise. Later stages can require surgery such as depression at the core of the bone, reshaping the bone, a bone transplant or even total joint replacement. 9. Most well known patients of avascular necrosis are athletes, including Bo Jackson, Brett Favre, and Ben Dvorak. 10. Well known musicians have also suffered from the condition, including Eddie Van Halen and Micky Dolenz. Can you qualify for disability benefits with this condition? Whether or not you qualify for disability and, as a result, are approved for disability benefits will depend entirely on the information obtained from your medical records. This includes whatever statements may have been obtained from your treating physician (a doctor who has a history of treating your condition and is, therefore, qualified to comment as to your condition and prognosis). It will also depend on the information obtained from your vocational, or work, history if you are an adult, or academic records if you are a minor-age child. The important thing to keep in mind is that the social security administration does not award benefits based on simply having a condition, but, instead, will base an approval or denial on the extent to which a condition causes functional limitations. Functional limitations can be great enough to make work activity not possible (or, for a child, make it impossible to engage in age-appropriate activities). Why are so many disability cases lost at the disability application and reconsideration appeal levels? Speaking as a former Disability Claims Examiner, I can state that there are several reasons: 1) Social Security makes no attempt to obtain a statement from a claimant's treating physician. By contrast, at the hearing level, a claimant and his or her disability attorney will generally obtain and present this type of statement to a judge; 2) Prior to the hearing level, a claimant will not have the opportunity to explain how their condition limits them, nor will their attorney or representative have the opportunity to make a presentation based on the evidence of the case. At the hearing level, of course, this is exactly what happens. And a number of disability representatives will also take such steps even earlier, at the reconsideration appeal level; 3) Disability judges, unlike disability examiners who decides cases at the first two levels of the system, can make independent decisions without being overturned by immediate supervisors--which happens frequently. 
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