Social Security Disability Advice Group

I used a national ssdi law firm located three hours away from my home. All of my communication with them with through the telephone, mail, and e-mail. My hearing was in the middle of August 2010. I had a panic attack getting to the office, as i went to the wrong place, and called the hearing office in hysterics, as i was afraid I was going to be late. i left the house two hours early, even thought the place was only an hour away. The reaosn is because my husband, who was supposed to drive me, had to stay home to take care of his teenage daughter who "suddenly' got sick at the last minute (yeah right). i have problems with my vision and am extremely sensitive to light. i had to wear another pair of sunglasses OVER my tinted prescription glasses to drive to the hearing. i did not take my Xanax, becuase i have problems with chronic fatigue, and i frequently fall asleep at the drop of a hat. The lady at the hearing office told me to calm down, everything will be allright and she talked me through the directions and even waited outside until i pulled up to the place. My lawyer was there waiting, and he was a very kind man. After being searched and scanned by the guard, the lawyer took me into an office to fill me in on what was going to happen. The lawyer was NOT from the lawfirm, though. He was asked at the last minute by my lawfirm to fill in, because all of their lawyers were already booked elsewhere.

I cried a bit during the hearing, and i was frustrated and could not really clearly explain what I was feeling, how a typical day was, etc. The lawyer cross-examined the VE, who had said i can do some sedentary sit down jobs. On cross-examination, the VE agreed that nobody would hire me and allow me to take naps throughout the day, because I require sleep for much of the day. i had started typing a list of my daily activities, etc. to read at the hearing, but I did not get to print it out, because of the last minute drama of my stepdaughter getting 'sick".

The judge seemed very nice, and he seemed sympathetic when i told him I worked all of my adult life, and i would not choose to be like this when I had good paying jobs with insurance, and now i had to settle for going to cheap medical doctors who didn't seem to care and just wanted to rush me out the door. The psych. center i have gone to for the past few years provided pretty good records with a RFC form attached. i explained to the judge that my problems were physical and mental combined, as my panic attacks and heart palpitations are often coupled together, and it is hard to know where they come from, and i always need a nap after i have the attacks. I also explained that my muscle pain and extreme fatigue cause me to take long naps in the afternoon on most days. i was honest too, explained that my blood sugar was now under control, and that sometimes I have two good days in a row.

The judge said he was holding the record open for two more weeks, because my lawyer said he wanted to get some more medical records, which i don't know why he did. Anyway, outside when i was getting into my car, the lawyer hugged me and said i did good. I asked him what would happen if I was denied, and he said 'then we will appeal it".

i drove home very slowly and almost veered off the road a few times. When i got to the house, i went right to bed and slept for the rest of the day, got up a little in the evening to eat, and went back to bed for the night.

i waited a few weeks, then i called the lawfirm's office. i left a message for the girl/secretary/paralegal who had been talking to me. i wanted a few days, with no response. i called again and left another message. Then she called back, and she seemed a bit annoyed with me, and she said she really doesn't get involved after the hearing stage, and she didn't hear any news yet, etc. later on, when i thought about it, i called her back and got her answering machine. i told her the lawyer said we could appeal it if it is turned down. I asked her if i could call the lawyer's office directly. She called back when i wasn't home and just left a flat answer, 'we didn't hear anything yet' and hung up.

Two months after the hearing, i called the 800 ssi number, after havnig no luck getting through to my local office, and i was afraid to call the hearing office. Then a few days after that, i received a letter that was addressed to the actual lawyer from the judge, with a cc; to me. The letter said that he received the lawyer's request to send more records, and that he gave a deadline for a few days later. The day I got the letter was already past the deadline date. I called the lawfirm again, got the answering machine again, and left a message asking what was going on. Then I called the hearing office and said I got the letter AFTER the deadline date for more records. The judge's admin. staff said i could fax whatever i have. i had borrowed money from my mom to go back to my old (good) doctor. i got some records from him showing an abnormal EKG and some other things. i also got another EKG done that day showing another abnormal EKG that was even worse than the one before. i also faxed some records from my eye doctor, showing the problems i have been having with my eyes for almost the last two years. i also faxed the letter i had originally been planning to bring to the hearing, describing what i day is typically like, etc. i called the girl to make sure she got them, and she did. She sounded busy, though, so i said thank you,. etc.

i reached the local ssi office yesterday, and she said no decision has been reached yet, and she said if i don't hear anything by the end of this month, I should call the hearing office to ask for an update.

What is really bugging me here is that I am doing all the work for the lawfirm, and i do not know if i am overstepping my boundaries by contacting places directly instead of letting the lawfirm handle it. The problem is that they don't call me back, and they don't seem to care. i am tempted to look up the number for the actual lawyer who showed up at my hearing and ask to speak with him directly. Would I be breaking some sort of rule/code of conduct/conflict of inerest issue because the lawyer is from another lawfirm than the one i hired?

i am going crazy as well as the fact that I am feeling horrible, and in these brief spurts of anger/energy, i write these posts. please, does anyone out there have any ideas on what to do?

First off. I feel for you.

WHAT A MESS.

Umm, I hope you're not paying these lawyers.

I'd seriously consider finding a new law firm ASAP.

Get a note pad, make a list that you can re-visit and write down ALL the Dr/s you've seen in the last say 5 years and get medical records from them or at least find out if the Hearing Judge has them. Then fill in the blanks but that's the Lawyers work.

You got screwed by your law firm IMHO.

I know there's 2 sides to each story but yours sounds pretty solid.

Good Luck.

I wish I could be of more help.

Try calling the State Atty General's Office and see if there are any complaints registered against both the firm you hired and the lawyer who was at your hearing.

i don't really know if it is the actual lawyer's fault, as he is with a different lawfirm than the one i used. They 'borrowed' him because there weren't any available from their own firm. I am wondering if it would be politically correct to call HIS actual lawfirm instead of going through the original lawfirm. i don't know if a conflict of interest would be involved here. Also, since i got that weird cc; of a letter to him from the ALJ office two MONTHS after the hearing when the judge allowed him two WEEKS after the hearing, i am wondering if the lawyer who was at my hearing is performing some miracle work that i am unaware of. There are just so many questions here. i hate being in the dark, and my panic attacks are getting much worse. i have gotten some of my medical records directly from some doctors, and i have sent away for some more. When i go to another doctor next week, i am going to ask for some. Even if they charge for the records, it would still be worth it for the peace of mind. Thanks for the reply. Any other comments here from other posters would certainly be welcome at all.

oh, by the way, this is one of the lawfirms that only gets paid if you win.

Wow, i feel your pain i also had a similar problem, i to recieved letters from ssdi review board that needed infro from my doctor that diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, so i called my lawyer and asked her if she got the same letter as i did from ssdi, she replied yes, i then asked her did she contact the doctor about it? She replies no, i said why not? She said well we dont contact doctors for info, i said are you kidding me, why wouldnt you? If it makes my case stronger, she said we just dont, man was i pissed tuen it hit me, these ss lawyers dont mind loosing your case because the longer it drags the more they get paid because you backpay will be a larger amount, Now thats polotics in the courts in favor of the courts and the lawyers, so here is what i called the ssdi case worker that was working on my case, very nice well spoken case worker i must say, i asked her what she needed, i went from doctor to doctor had them fill out the paper work the case worker needed, and my case was up and running in no time, i called the ssdi case worker 2 weeks later and she notified me that she is no longer handling my case and that it was being handled somewhere in kansas by a quality control board, so i called my lawyer asked her what that means when your case is review by a qualility control board, she says, its usally means yor case is approved but has to be reviewed by a special board that makes sure you were approved for all the right reasons, then two weeks later my lawyer calls me again and tells me not to get to excited but that she was told my case was approved, and guess what? I then replied what? She said that by me going to my doctors and getting the ssdi case worker the doctors report she needed helped my case move forward and quicker, then the average person, as for me i knew i had to help myself alot to get this case going once i figuerd what these lawyers are.realy about i knew i had to take charge, remember the longer the case drags the more you suffer and the more you suffer waiting and broke, the more the lawyer collects, so yes i recomend that you follow up on your case always, as these lawyers deal with tons and tons of cases and do make mistakes and forget to bring documents to court as well, so keep up the good work and provide them will all your medical findings even if its just small finding like gastritus put it in, also do alot of reading on the internet like disabilitysecrets.com etc. Dont know what state your in but iam in NY and from what ive heard this state has a high percentage of turning down people and that why i did what i did to help win my case, good luck in your case and fight fight fight :o)

Thanks so much. i am trying to be patient, and i pray alot. it seems to help sometimes.

I'm shocked that your lawyers/representatives expected you to do a lot of their work for them. Especially collecting your medical records from your medical sources! That's what they get paid for!

In some extreme cases, you can make an appeal to the judge and ask that the lawyer does not receive payment if you were the one who did all the work for them.

Well, they didn't expect me to. They said they were taking care of everything. I jumped in and did some of my own legwork when i saw that there was alot of medical evidence missing, and they didn't return my calls.

God, I can't believe you are going thru this Hell. Even though I only seen my actual lawyer 2 times, his paraleagals where great. They where very professional and called me back when they were unavailable. They kept me updated all the way thru the whole process. What state are you in? I am in Michigan and the whole case went very quickly. My case I guess must just be unusual or I was just lucky. I would try a different Law firm.

Good Luck

I am in the Southern U.S.A. My paralegal said that her job ends at the hearing. i don't know what the heck she meant by that. However, the lawyer himself said that if I lost at the hearing, we would appeal. Can i take that to mean that i can call this lawyer directly if the paralegal's lawfirm drops me? Is not returning my calls their way of letting me know i was dropped. Remember, at this stage, i can still be approved, or partially approved, so i can't even file a new application while appealing the old one until i have an answer to the first one. This is frustrating.