The Doctor Social Security Sent Me To Told Me I Was Disabled, Why Was I Denied?

From time to time a client tells me that they went to the Consultative Examination that Social Security requested that they go to and the doctor told them that they were disabled. Of course the client then is expecting the next correspondence from Social Security to be a Notice of Award. But, unfortunately that is not always the case.

I've had more than a few clients tell me that the doctor told them that they were disabled only for Social Security to turn around and deny them either at the initial decision or Reconsideration. Why does this happen? In my opinion it boils down to one of several possible reasons; either the doctor said one thing and wrote another thing in his report, the doctor may have said something which was misunderstood or the doctor did state that the claimant was disabled but Social Security - who is the ultimate decision maker - decided that the claimant did not meet the Social Security definition of disability.

The good news is that if the doctor at the Consultative Examination, whether it be a medical doctor or a psychiatrist, did include favorable evidence for you in their report that this may help you at the Social Security hearing.