Will you get disability if your doctor labels you permanently disabled?

I found this question in a forum recently and I thought I would address it here. If your doctor labels you permanently disabled, will you get disability? Like so many answers for so many other types of questions...it depends.

First of all, what do we mean by a "doctor labeling someone permanently disabled"? Does this mean the doctor having said to a patient that he doesn't think he or she can return to work? If so, that's a nice supportive statement, but if it doesn't make it into the medical records for either a disability examiner (examiners decide claims at the disability application and request for reconsideration levels) or a disability judge to read, it won't have any impact.

Would it mean that a claimant's doctor has supplied a letter stating that their patient is disabled? This would be better, by far, than a verbal statement. However, as an examiner working on social security disability and SSI cases, I have seen many relatively worthless statements supplied by well-intentioned doctors. Basically, if a doctor supplies an applicant for disability with a statement that says, "Patient is permanently disabled", and says nothing about Why the individual is disabled, the statement will be completely useless.

A statement supplied by a doctor for the purpose of supporting a claim for disability benefits needs to have some substance in it. It needs to inform the disability claim decision maker as to why the claimant is disabled. In other words, "prove it". Or, at least, "substantiate it".

Here's a page I wrote a while back that discusses residual functional capacity that relates to this topic.

Residual Functional Capacity











Return to:

Social Security Disability Secrets

Social Security Disability Requirements







Other Posts and Pages
Social Security Disability Degenerative Disc Disease
Filing for Disability - links
I Did All The Work On My Disability Case - Why Should I Pay My Lawyer?
Do I need to have a Representative at a Social Security Disability Hearing?
Can you get a second Social Security Disability Hearing if a judge denies you?