RE: SS Determination...long

[Guest guest]

Definitely follow through with the hearing. And here's hoping you get a

FAIR judge. My hearing was over 200 miles away, and I had to stop several

times on the way as I was simply physically unable to sit for that long of a

drive. My attorney said to take my pain meds before hand, and when I told

him they put me in La La Land and I have a hard time holding a

conversation...he said that's ok take them anyway as I was bringing along a

witness who could help me. Thank goodness, I thought, as there was no way I

could have made the trip otherwise. Turned out though that the security

officer at the hearing office said I couldn't have gotten a worse judge, and

wished me the best of luck...glad he told me AFTER the hearing, although I

already pretty much figured it out by then. For starters, the judge flat

out refused to allow my witness (who BTW is a police officer, and though he

wasn't in uniform or anything, most cops " look " like cops, even when off

duty) to be present. Then the judge had the nerve to hiss through clenched

teeth during the hearing when I asked for a question to be repeated (Fibro

Fog, combined with meds, makes for difficulty understanding sometimes) or if

it was taking more than 2 seconds for the words I wanted to say to actually

sort themselves out in my head and come out right (some didn't). And when I

didn't answer immediately (like exactly how many credit hours of school I

had and what were all the dates I attended (I have a hard time remembering

my own children's birth dates, let alone the dates I attended three

different colleges over the course of 10 years...starting 20 years ago!),

the judge would let out this big exasperated sign and do the finger drum

thing. I had to get up during the meeting because it simply hurt too bad to

sit all the way through it. But even then, I was rocking back and forth in

pain during the hearing so much that my attorney made verbal documentation

of it for the stenographer/recorder. My off-duty officer said maybe it was a

good thing he wasn't allowed in, because he'd end up being held in contempt

of court...or worse. It was so bad the lady doing the recording came up to

me in the hall after the hearing and apologized for the judge's totally

unprofessional behavior. So it wasn't much of a surprise when I received a

denial letter 3 long months later.

What was surprising were the outright lies the letter contained...said the

decision was based on me being able to sit through the entire hearing

without showing any signs of discomfort (the judge obviously forgot

grudgingly granting my need to stand up partway through the hearing, as well

as my rocking in pain!), and said I refused to use try other methods of pain

relief besides meds such as no TENS unit, no chiropractic or no ultrasound

treatments....when in fact I wear a TENS unit almost DAILY and I DID see a

chiro (messed up my neck, which was the only thing I didn't have a problem

with at the time, so that my reg doc had to do ultrasound treatments and

tried to reverse the chiro's screw up)...and all of this was documented in

my medical records that were right in front of the judge! But then no

matter what the records said, it wouldn't really have mattered anyway

because the judge said my doctor (a DO of 30+ years who I'd been seeing for

at least the past 13 years) was unreliable. My doc is the same one that my

aunt got her disability with, and has never had a problem with any of his

disabled patients getting their SSD before. He was the one that told me to

go for mine a year before I finally broke down and applied, because he said

I was 100% perm disabled and that there was absolutely nothing more that

could be done and I was just going to get worse (I went out of his office in

tears of hopelessness and frustration THAT day).

Anyway, my attorney immediately filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals

(as well as a grievance against the judge), which they tell me could take

still another year. In the meantime, I'm trying not to lose my house.

~EarthDog~

Just in case the judge is on this list... :b

-----Original Message-----

Debra - My advice is to follow through with the hearing. You need a judge

to see you face to face and hear your story. This is denial is just another

step on the govt's part of making you wait. Don't give up!

Jeanne in WI