Three plaintiffs who were denied Social Security disability benefits filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court in San Francisco against the Social Security Administration over Social Security’s use of a “disqualified” doctor. The suit suggested that the reports this doctor wrote to Social Security were “deficient” and referenced tests that were never performed and were inconsistent with the claimant’s medical records. In addition, it was referenced that these exams performed by the doctor lasted 10 minutes or less.
Social Security uses select doctors for Consultative Exams (CEs) to perform examinations on Social Security disability applicants. These exams are ordered when a disability examiner believes there is not enough evidence to decide whether an applicant is disabled. Many times the CE reports doctors complete play a crucial role in whether someone is found disabled and entitled to benefits. The lawsuit seeks to require Social Security to re-open all prior determinations that terminated or denied disability benefits and relied on a CE performed by this particular doctor.
Whether or not this lawsuit is successful, it highlights the fact that many times CEs work against an applicant’s favor. Our law office has been told by clients that many times exams take 10 minutes or less, no tests are performed and claimants are whisked out the door of the doctor’s office before they knew what happened.
The best defense of this is for claimants to treat with their own medical professionals, so there is ample medical evidence in a claimant’s file. Social Security is supposed to rely more on medical evidence produced by a claimant’s own medical doctors than on a CE exam, which makes sense. Who knows a claimant’s limitations better than the claimant’s own doctor?
To read more details about the federal lawsuit filed against the Social Security Administration in San Francisco click here.
