FEDERAL COURT FINDS THAT SSA JUDGE WRONGFULLY IGNORED DISABLED CLAIMANT'S OWN TREATING PHYSICIAN'S REPORTS; SENDS CLAIM BACK TO SSA FOR REHEARING

I am pleased to announce another success in having a SSA judge's denial of disability benefits overturned by a Federal Court Judge.

In this claim the claimant was a young man who alleged disability due to severe mental impairments, including a claim of multiple chemical sensitivities.  The claimant presented a lengthy medical diagnosis from his treating physician documenting a severe mental impairment.  This medical diagnosis also discussed the claim of multiple chemical sensitivity as a basis of the claimant's underlying mental impairments. The treating physician's examination of the claimant took place over a three day period.

The SSA judge rejected the treating physician's report.  The SSA judge found that since the treating physician only spent three days with the claimant, she could not be considered as a "treating physician".   Rather the SSA judge preferred the medical reports of the SSA's own physician who found the claimant as not disabled.  The SSA's own physician, however, had never examined and had never met the claimant.

We argued on appeal to the federal district court that the SSA Judge was wrong to reject the findings of the claimant's treating physician in favor of the SSA's own doctor.  The US Attorney's office in defense of the SSA judge argued that the claimant's treating physician was not a "treating" physician because three days of testing was too short of time to spend with the claimant to make a medical diagnosis. Rather incredibly, the US Attorney then argued to the federal court that only the SSA doctor could be considered a "treating physician"; even though the SSA doctor admittedly never once physically examined or even met the claimant. 

The federal court soundly rejected the US Attorney's arguments.  The federal court found that even if the claimant's physician was not a "treating" physician, she was in fact an "examining" physician.  As an examining physician for the claimant, her opinion was entitled to greater weight than that of the SSA's doctor who never even saw the claimant and thus was entitled to the least weight of all.  The Federal court also found that the SSA judge also erred in finding that the SSA's physician's report was supported by diagnostic tests.  The only diagnostic tests performed were those made by the claimant's physician during the three days of testing.  The federal court found that the SSA Judge could not accept the results of those tests while rejecting at the same time the conclusions derived by those same tests.  The federal court rejected the SSA judge's findings and the US Attorney's arguments and reversed the SSA decision and sent the claimant back to the SSA for another hearing to take into full account the claimant's physician's medical reports.