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If a heart attack left you unable to participate in the same activities you did before—especially working—you may qualify for financial assistance from Social Security Disability benefits.
Benefits provide monthly income support and access to Medicare health coverage when a health crisis cuts off your ability to work and earn a living.
It takes a tremendous amount of pressure off you, letting you know your basic needs are covered so you can rest.
Winning disability benefits after a heart attack, however, isn’t guaranteed.
While these kinds of medical events are shocking, they have to contribute to a long-term impairment for Social Security to approve your disability benefits application.
It’s difficult to show Social Security that heart disease and a heart attack will keep you from working for a long time. Many people go back to work after a heart attack.
If you were denied disability benefits for a cardiovascular health issue, let the Upstate New York disability lawyers at Lachman & Gorton Law Office help.
Our attorneys have helped thousands of people in Elmira, Binghamton, Oneonta, Rochester, Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo and across Upstate New York win the benefits they needed to get back on the road to financial stability. We also help people in Pennsylvania.
We’ll walk you through each stage of the appeals process and do everything that we can to make your heart attack disability claim more convincing.
The initial consultation about your claim is free, and you won’t pay an attorney fee until you win benefits.
Just having a heart attack or suffering from heart disease on its own won’t be enough to make you eligible for Social Security Disability benefits.
To receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, you’ll need to show that your health issues leave you unable to do your past work or adjust to other work for 12 months or longer.
Around 60% to 65% of initial disability claims get denied in New York, according to recent Social Security Administration (SSA) data, and one common reason for denials is these high standards.
If a claims examiner thinks you can still work, your claim will be denied.
To show the claims examiner that you can’t work at a substantial level, the key to your disability claim will be your residual functional capacity (RFC).
This is how Social Security evaluates what you can still handle, physically and mentally, despite your health issues.
To evaluate your physical capabilities, a claims examiner wants answers to questions like:
Doing any kind of physical job with heart disease can be risky, but it’s not just physical weakness or the possibility of having a heart attack that you need to worry about.
If you’re suffering from heart disease, your symptoms can make it difficult to concentrate on work tasks. You may experience fatigue or get dizzy.
If you can’t remember instructions, make decisions or interact with others, that affects your ability to work.
The symptoms you can experience after a heart attack could make even sedentary work, like a desk job, impossible to do.
Our Binghamton disability lawyers can help you build a convincing heart attack disability claim that demonstrates that you cannot work at a substantial level for 12 months or longer.
Many disability claims get denied due to a lack of evidence. Talking about your symptoms and how they interfere with work is important, but Social Security wants to see objective evidence backing up your claim.
The Lachman & Gorton Law Office has a special approach to this. We design a questionnaire for your doctor to fill out that covers information you need about your particular health impairment and how Social Security Disability law applies to it.
More items that can strengthen your heart attack disability claim include:
Whether you suffer from ischemic heart disease, chronic heart failure, coronary artery disease or another type of cardiovascular issue, a claims examiner won’t just take your word for it when you say that your symptoms stop you from working.
You need to offer evidence of your symptoms and show that you’ve made a serious effort to treat them.
If you were denied benefits despite having evidence and thinking that you did everything right, we understand how demoralizing that can be.
Now’s not the time to despair. Talk to experienced Upstate New York disability attorneys at Lachman & Gorton about keeping your disability claim alive.
Social Security gives you multiple chances to appeal after it denies your disability claim, whether it’s for a heart attack, heart disease or any other medical issue. We recommend working with an experienced disability lawyer at every stage.
Here’s a look at how this process will go, step by step:
Step 1: Receiving a denial letter
Your denial letter should tell you why your application for benefits was rejected, but sometimes Social Security isn’t clear about its reasoning.
An Upstate New York disability appeal lawyer from our firm can help you interpret your letter and start building a more convincing claim for why heart problems are keeping you from work.
Step 2: Requesting reconsideration
You have to request reconsideration, the first phase of appeals, within 60 days of your denial. The same 60-day deadline applies each time you get denied and want to keep your appeal going.
Another claims examiner will take a look at your heart attack disability claim and make their own decision. Odds of approval at this stage are low, around 10% to 15%, but this is a necessary step.
Step 3: Scheduling a disability hearing
If you get denied at reconsideration, you can request a disability hearing in front of an administrative law judge (ALJ). Whether this takes place in person, over the phone or via video, this could be your best chance to make your case for winning benefits after a heart attack.
We’ll prepare you so that you know what to expect, but be aware that you’ll probably wait a while to get your hearing scheduled. This has been taking around 10 months in New York, according to recent SSA data.
Step 4: Appealing to the Social Security Appeals Council
If your hearing doesn’t go your way, you can take your case to the Appeals Council at Social Security. You will identify legal errors and argue in filings with the council that the judge’s ruling at your hearing was wrong.
You could get denied again, awarded benefits outright or sent back for another hearing.
Step 5: Filing a lawsuit in Federal District Court
The last chance to appeal takes you out of the Social Security Disability system entirely and into federal court.
You file a legal brief—you should get an attorney experienced with federal court cases to do this—and the SSA files its response. This isn’t like the hearing step; you won’t have to appear in front of the judge yourself.
The federal judge could deny your benefits again, award disability benefits or send your case back for another disability hearing.
Not every disability lawyer handles all stages of appeal. Some law firms, recognizing our experience with the Appeals Council and federal court, recommend us to their clients when they reach these steps.
Disability lawyer Peter Gorton takes more than 75 appeals to Federal District Court each year. The whole team at Lachman & Gorton Law Office is ready to help you make your case stronger on appeal.
If your heart attack disability claim was denied, don’t give up. Work with our Binghamton disability attorneys and fight for benefits that could help restore your peace of mind and independence.