WILL a "SOCIAL SECURITY DOCTOR" HELP YOU GET APPROVED FOR DISABILITY?

After you file a Social Security disability application, you may be requested to attend a Consultative Examination (CE) by a doctor who is contracted with the Social Security Administration. Will this exam help you get approved for disability benefits?

Probably not. Many of these tight-fisted doctors seem to go out of their way to get claimants denied. If you are able to climb on and off the examination table, walk about 100 feet without collapsing, and still have all 4 limbs, their exam will not often support a finding of disability.

The purpose of a Social Security consultative exam is not to get you approved. It is to close the case and get rid of you.

Social Security doesn't ask doctors whether you are disabled, or if you can work. They ask for a limited examination to record specific things. The doctor may or may not include an opinion about any impairments or functional limitations you have.

The truth is, the claimant must rely on his or her own doctors to win a claim. Your treating physician is the best source of medical information that will support a disability claim. See your own doctor regularly and make him/her aware of your functional limitations. Be sure that Social Security gets your doctor's records. And ask your doctor to provide a specific and detailed functional capacity report to Social Security before they make a decision.

If Social Security asks you to attend a consultative examination, you should do so. Failure to go for the exam may get you denied. So be sure to attend. Just don't expect to build a case around this type of exam.