|
SSDRC.COM
Overview of Disability Disability Back Pay Disability Requirements Disability Applications Disability Advice Tips How long do cases take? How to win Disability SSD Mistakes to avoid Disability for Mental What if you get denied? How to file Appeals Disability through SSA SSI Disability Benefits Disability for Children How do I qualify for it? Working and Disability Disability Award Notice Disability Lawyer Q&A Disability Conditions List What is a disability? Your Medical Evidence Filing for your Disability Disability Eligibility SSD SSI Definitions SSDRC authored by Recent Questions SSDRC Disability Blog |
Facts about Meningitis and Filing for DisabilityThese selected pages answer some of the most basic, but also some of the most important, questions for individuals who are considering filing a claim for disability benefits.
Facts about the condition 1) The membranes around the spinal cord and brain are called ‘meninges’. When these protective membranes become inflamed due to various microorganisms, bacteria, viral infections, and fungal infections, it causes changes to the cerebrospinal fluid and is called meningitis. 2) Meningitis may also develop due to the use of certain drugs, inflammatory diseases, and some cancers, though these causes are much less common than meningitis due to bacteria and/or viruses. 3) Depending upon the case, meningitis can be short-term and easily resolved without medications or treatment, or can be serious, severe and life threatening. 4) Symptoms of meningitis for adults involve headache, sensitivity to light, fever, nausea/vomiting, sleepiness, confusion, stiff neck, loss of appetite, and seizures. Symptoms for infants include poor feeding, relentless crying (sometimes more intense crying upon being picked up), irritability, stiff neck and body, and bulging of the soft spot on head. 5) Viral meningitis is not usually sever, but bacterial meningitis is serious, fatal, can cause brain damage, and needs treatment right away. Other potential complications due to meningitis include deafness, loss of vision, and ‘water on the brain’. 6) Treatment for viral meningitis is pretty simple: bed rest, lots of fluids, and some pain meds, and possibly antiviral medication; It usually resolves itself. Bacterial meningitis is another story; immediate intravenous antibiotics and possibly treatment for dehydration, seizures and brain swelling. If water on the brain is present it may require surgery for fluid drainage. 7) There are certain risk factors for developing meningitis. They include working with animals, having a weakened immune system, being pregnant, and living or spending a lot of time in a community setting where the disease can spread quickly. 8) Although bacterial meningitis was mainly found in infants around the age of 15 months old, vaccines have changed the median age drastically. These days bacterial meningitis rarely affects infants and is now usually found in those around the age of 25 years old. Qualifying 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 and treatment notes that 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 also includes discharge summaries from hospital stays, reports of imaging studies (such as xrays, MRIs, and CT scans) and lab panels (i.e. bloodwork) as well as reports from physical therapy. In many disability claims, it may also include the results of a report issued by an independent physician who examines you at the request of the Social Security Administration.
Qualifying for SSD or SSI benefits 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. In the case of adults, your work history information will allow a disability examiner (examiners make decisions at the initial claim and reconsideration appeal levels, but not at the hearing level where a judges decides the outcome of the case) to A) classify your past work, B) determine the physical and mental demands of your past work, C) decide if you can go back to a past job, and D) whether or not you have the ability to switch to some type of other work. 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? There are several reasons but here are just two: 1) Social Security makes no attempt to obtain a statement from a claimant's treating physician. By contrast, at the hearing level, a claimant's disability attorney or disability representative will generally obtain and present this type of statement to a judge. Note: it is not enough for a doctor to simply state that their patient is disabled. To satisy Social Security's requirements, the physician must list in what ways and to what extent the individual is functionally limited. For this reason, many representatives and attorneys request that the physician fill out and sign a specialized medical source statement that captures the correct information. Solid Supporting statements from physicians easily make the difference between winning or losing a disability case at the hearing level. 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. This is because at the initial levels of the disability system, a disability examiner decides the case without meeting the claimant. The examiner may contact the claimant to gather information on activities of daily living and with regard to medical treatment or past jobs, but usually nothing more. At the hearing level, however, presenting an argument for approval based on medical evidence that has been obtained and submitted is exactly what happens. Qualifying 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 and treatment notes that 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 also includes discharge summaries from hospital stays, reports of imaging studies (such as xrays, MRIs, and CT scans) and lab panels (i.e. bloodwork) as well as reports from physical therapy. In many disability claims, it may also include the results of a report issued by an independent physician who examines you at the request of the Social Security Administration.
Qualifying for SSD or SSI benefits 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. In the case of adults, your work history information will allow a disability examiner (examiners make decisions at the initial claim and reconsideration appeal levels, but not at the hearing level where a judges decides the outcome of the case) to A) classify your past work, B) determine the physical and mental demands of your past work, C) decide if you can go back to a past job, and D) whether or not you have the ability to switch to some type of other work. 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? There are several reasons but here are just two: 1) Social Security makes no attempt to obtain a statement from a claimant's treating physician. By contrast, at the hearing level, a claimant's disability attorney or disability representative will generally obtain and present this type of statement to a judge. Note: it is not enough for a doctor to simply state that their patient is disabled. To satisy Social Security's requirements, the physician must list in what ways and to what extent the individual is functionally limited. For this reason, many representatives and attorneys request that the physician fill out and sign a specialized medical source statement that captures the correct information. Solid Supporting statements from physicians easily make the difference between winning or losing a disability case at the hearing level. 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. This is because at the initial levels of the disability system, a disability examiner decides the case without meeting the claimant. The examiner may contact the claimant to gather information on activities of daily living and with regard to medical treatment or past jobs, but usually nothing more. At the hearing level, however, presenting an argument for approval based on medical evidence that has been obtained and submitted is exactly what happens. Return to: Social Security Disability Resource Center, or read answers to Questions Related Body System Impairments: Arachnoiditis and Filing for Disability Transverse Myelitis and Filing for Disability Spinal Stenosis and Filing for Disability Curved Spinal Conditions and Filing for Disability Scoliosis and Filing for Disability Spina Bifida and Filing for Disability Syringomelia and Filing for Disability Chiari Malformation and Filing for Disability Meningitis and Filing for Disability Laminectomy and Filing for Disability Narrowing of the Spine from Spinal Stenosis and Filing for Disability Information on the following topics can be found here: Social Security Disability Questions and in these subsections: Frequently asked questions about getting Denied for Disability Benefits | FAQ on Disability Claim Representation | Info about Social Security Disability Approvals and Being Approved | FAQ on Social Security Disability SSI decisions | The SSD SSI Decision Process and what gets taken into consideration | Disability hearings before Judges | Medical exams for disability claims | Applying for Disability in various states | Selecting and hiring Disability Lawyers | Applying for Disability in North Carolina | Recent articles and answers to questions about SSD and SSI These pages answer some of the most basic questions for individuals who are considering filing a claim. How to Apply for Disability - What medical conditions can you apply and qualify for? How long does it take to be approved for SSI or Social Security disability? What happens if I file a disability application and it is denied by a disability examiner or Judge? How do you prove your disability case if you have a mental condition or impairment? Social Security Disability Back pay and How Long it Takes to Qualify for it and receive it |