SSDRC

Filing an Application for Disability Benefits

Social Security Disability List of Impairments

Social Security Disability and SSI Back pay

Social Security Disability Status

SSI Disability Benefits

Social Security Disability and SSI Requirements

Social Security, SSI, and Mental Disability

How Long Does It Take To Get Disability Benefits?

Qualifying: What do you Need to Prove to Qualify for Disability?

Facts about COPD and Filing for Disability

1) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a combination of chronic bronchitis, which is caused by lung damage and inflammation in the large airways, and emphysema, which is caused by damage of the lung tissue and inflammation of the air sacs. The term was coined in 1965.

2) Nearly 90 percent of all COPD cases in the United States are caused by smoking tobacco. Other risk factors are genetics, air pollution, occupational pollution (coal mining, wielding, etc.), and other risks, such as repeated lung infections.

3) COPD, also known as chronic obstructive lung disease, chronic airflow limitation, chronic obstructive respiratory disease, and chronic obstructive airway disease, is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

4) The most common symptoms of COPD are dyspnea (shortness of breath), tachypnea (rapid breathing rate), lack of energy, wheezing, chest tightness, and excessive mucus production.

5) COPD causes the air flow to be greatly reduced when breathing out. Although forcing the breath out can increase the air flow, there is often a limitation in the expiratory flow for those with COPD.

6) COPD is most commonly diagnosed using spirometry, a test that measures the volume of air that can breathed out in the first second of a large breath, and a whole large breath. A chest x-ray and a computed tomography scan can both be used to rule out other lung diseases.

7) In severe cases of COPD, complications such as heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and weight loss can occur.

8) COPD is incurable, though quitting smoking and reducing air pollution, occupational pollution, and secondhand smoke can help prevent and treat the disease. Bronchodilators and corticosteroids are often used to manage the disorder. Severe cases may sometimes require surgery such as lung volume reduction surgery, and lung transplantation.

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.