http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/the-social-security-disability-process/consultative-medical-evaluations/please-dont-act-a-fool-at-a-social-security-consultative-evaluation General Legal Issues by Anthony Reeves, Esq. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:06:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/the-social-security-disability-process/consultative-medical-evaluations/please-dont-act-a-fool-at-a-social-security-consultative-evaluation/comment-page-1#comment-8291 Anthony Reeves Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:50:25 +0000 http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/?p=523#comment-8291 The reason I put a post about "acting a fool" is because a lot of times people go into these evaluations with the expectation that they are going to receive treatment. The consultative evaluators don't always have an intimate knowledge of the conditions affecting the persons they evaluate so it's always wise to defer to a treating doctor if the evaluator requires something that the patient has been told NOT to do. The only difficult part is that if a person doesn't comply with the evaluator, that failure to comply is noted in the evaluation. The smart thing is to ensure that the treating doctor has adequately documented the restrictions so the patient can have something to counter if the issue regarding the failure ever comes back up. The reason I put a post about “acting a fool” is because a lot of times people go into these evaluations with the expectation that they are going to receive treatment. The consultative evaluators don’t always have an intimate knowledge of the conditions affecting the persons they evaluate so it’s always wise to defer to a treating doctor if the evaluator requires something that the patient has been told NOT to do. The only difficult part is that if a person doesn’t comply with the evaluator, that failure to comply is noted in the evaluation. The smart thing is to ensure that the treating doctor has adequately documented the restrictions so the patient can have something to counter if the issue regarding the failure ever comes back up.

]]> http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/the-social-security-disability-process/consultative-medical-evaluations/please-dont-act-a-fool-at-a-social-security-consultative-evaluation/comment-page-1#comment-8268 Rin Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:28:25 +0000 http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/?p=523#comment-8268 Your "don't act the fool" advice is great. What do you do, however, if the doctor assigned to conduct a functional evaluation actually puts your life at risk, because they refused to look at your medical records ("too much work") and/or recent MRI/CT scans ("too much work") ? I had to make the decision-- follow this doctor's orders, or follow my physicians' (all 7 of them) orders? I kept a smile on my face and did what I could-- but, I had to refuse some parts of the exam because (per my own doctors' orders) it would have endangered my life. I constantly referred the doctor to my treating physicians' orders at the top of my medical chart, but he repeatedly refused to read the "too long" medical records sent by DDS/SSA; and he refused to modify the functional exam to meet the criteria clearly outlined in the neurologists' reports. The entire experience was horrific, and I wanted to leave-- but, I stayed and remained polite and respectful. Later, when I told my treating doctors what happened, they were shocked and appalled that SSA/DDS would even prescribe the exam. My neurologist-- always calm and professional-- turned purple and asked, "what is wrong with these people? Are they trying to kill you?" Your “don’t act the fool” advice is great. What do you do, however, if the doctor assigned to conduct a functional evaluation actually puts your life at risk, because they refused to look at your medical records (“too much work”) and/or recent MRI/CT scans (“too much work”) ? I had to make the decision– follow this doctor’s orders, or follow my physicians’ (all 7 of them) orders? I kept a smile on my face and did what I could– but, I had to refuse some parts of the exam because (per my own doctors’ orders) it would have endangered my life. I constantly referred the doctor to my treating physicians’ orders at the top of my medical chart, but he repeatedly refused to read the “too long” medical records sent by DDS/SSA; and he refused to modify the functional exam to meet the criteria clearly outlined in the neurologists’ reports. The entire experience was horrific, and I wanted to leave– but, I stayed and remained polite and respectful. Later, when I told my treating doctors what happened, they were shocked and appalled that SSA/DDS would even prescribe the exam. My neurologist– always calm and professional– turned purple and asked, “what is wrong with these people? Are they trying to kill you?”

]]>