How does the Social Security Administration assess the severity of a Charlotte disability claimant’s symptoms?

The Bridgman Law Firm can advise you on the options. Here is some info that can help direct you toward your next course of action.

The Social Security Administration uses a two-part analysis to evaluate the severity of a Charlotte disability claimant’s symptoms.

First, the Social Security Administration considers the “objective medical evidence” of your symptoms – lab findings, test results and other evidence that typically is documented in your medical records. At this level of review, the Social Security decision-maker is looking for proof that a “medically determinable impairment” could cause the symptoms you claim to have. Without this objective medical evidence, your claim for North Carolina Social Security disability benefits will fail.

If you pass this first hurdle, however, the scope of the review widens to include all the evidence in the record, taken as a whole. At this second step in the analysis, the Social Security decision-maker considers the “intensity, persistence, or functionally limiting effects” of your symptoms. The decision-maker must look beyond the objective medical evidence and also consider subjective evidence, which includes your statements and the statements of witnesses in your favor. Your testimony at your North Carolina Social Security disability hearing can be the most persuasive evidence of the disabling effects of your symptoms. If you provide detailed examples of the nature of your symptoms (e.g., the frequency, intensity and duration of your pain) and how your symptoms disrupt your daily activities, the judge must take this information into account in deciding your North Carolina disabiilty benefits claim.

To learn more about establishing the validity of your symptoms at your Charlotte Social Security disability hearing, please visit our home page. You will find an informative series of articles in the library, under the heading, “Your disability hearing.” You may also find helpful our two videos, How the Judge Determines Disability and What Not to Do at Your Hearing.