Medical Issues in Social Security Disability

Description

An Inside Look at SSA Medical Evaluations

Author Dr. David Morton has personally made more than 50,000 disability determinations for Social Security administration. As a Chief Medical Consultant, he hired, trained, supervised, and evaluated the work of both medical doctors and clinical psychologists.

Dr. Morton reveals in his newest book how the SSA judges your claimants’ medical data. Now you can have at your fingertips reliable guidance on:

• Documenting all essential medical proof elements
• Overcoming frequently-arising claim hurdles
• Guarding against common errors by adjudicators and treating doctors
• Delivering persuasive presentations of impairment

The sophisticated and practical advice in this ground-breaking work is organized by Listing, and all medical terms are defined in lay language. Also in this book:

• Little-known and revealing inside information that helps you take advantage of weaknesses in SSA evaluation and adjudication
• Helpful guidance on what symptoms, signs, and laboratory findings are required to meet a Listing
• Detailed descriptions of documentation challenges faced by both SSA and claimants’ representatives
• Candid assessments of your chances of qualifying your claimant, and what additional factors will help
• Practical advice, based on the author’s 14 years of making disability determinations for SSA, alert you to common errors by representatives
• Over 100 pages on 14 categories of mental disorders provide coverage available nowhere else
• Over 100 medical opinion forms help you efficiently gather medical evidence persuasive to SSA

These insider tips are extraordinary in both detail and number.

REVISION 21 HIGHLIGHTS

This 21st revision of Medical Issues in Social Security Disability adds new sections and updates throughout, including updates to various listing discussions that address evaluations in light of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection. New and updated sections include:

New and Updated

• Chapter 1, §1.01.1.a, updated fibromyalgia information regarding cause.
• Chapter 1, § 1.01.1.a, pelvic fractures and mortality.
• Chapter 4, §4.02.1.a, diastolic heart failure.
• Chapter 4, §4.09.1.b, heart transplants, especially the presence of cardiac allograft
  vasculopathy.
• Chapter 4, §4.12.2, residual functional capacity; peripheral arterial disease.
• Chapter 4, §4.05.2, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)
• Chapter 4, §4.02.3, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and exertional limitations
• Chapter 4, §4.05.2, obesity cardiomyopathy.
• Chapter 4, §4.02.3, exertional limitations in diastolic heart failure.
• Chapter 4, §4.04.1.a, Covid-19 inflammation of coronary arteries and the risk of a heart attack
  and persistence of the virus in coronary lesions; presence of the virus in coronary lesions.
• Chapter 7, §7.08.1.a, hemophilia and gene therapy for factor VIII deficiency.
• Chapter 7, §7.05.1.a, new gene therapies cleared for treatment of sickle cell disease.
• Chapter 11, §11.04.02, exertional limitations for those with internal carotid artery stenosis.
• Chapter 12, §12.02.1.a, SARS-CoV-2 persistence in the gut and decreased serotonin and
  depression; Long Covid mental symptoms.
• Chapter 13, §13.06.1.a, survival predictability for AML after start of treatment and after bone
  marrow transplant.
• Chapter 13, §13.02.3, the cause of “Chemobrain.”
• Chapter 14, 14.01.b, the danger of monkeypox (Mpox) in HIV infections.
• Chapter 14, §14.06.a, updated information on the VEXAS syndrome.

AND MORE!

ABBREVIATED TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM AND GROWTH IMPAIRMENTS
CHAPTER 2 SPECIAL SENSES AND SPEECH
CHAPTER 3 RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
CHAPTER 4 CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
CHAPTER 5 DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
CHAPTER 6 GENITOURINARY DISORDERS
CHAPTER 7 HEMATOLOGICAL SYSTEM
CHAPTER 8 SKIN DISORDERS
CHAPTER 9 ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
CHAPTER 10 MULTIPLE BODY SYSTEMS
CHAPTER 11 NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS
CHAPTER 12 MENTAL DISORDERS
CHAPTER 13 CANCER (NEOPLASTIC DISEASES – MALIGNANT)
CHAPTER 14 IMMUNE SYSTEM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David A. Morton has degrees in both psychology (B.A.) and medicine (M.D.). For 14 years he was a consultant for Disability Determination for Social Security Administration in Arkansas, and he was the Chief Medical Consultant during the last 8 years of that time. In his capacity of Chief Medical Consultant, he hired, trained, supervised, and evaluated the work of both medical doctors (M.D.’s), and clinical psychologists (Ph.D.’s) in the medical determination of mental disability claims. He also supervised medical disability determinations of physical disorders and personally made more than 50,000 determinations of both physical and mental disorders in both adults and children in every specialty of medicine pertaining to disability. Since 1983, Dr. Morton has authored several books on Social Security disability used by attorneys and the general public.