I am often asked, on an initial interview/consultation of a potential client, whether or not psychiatric medical disabilities (Major Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, PTSD, panic attacks, Bi-polar disorder, etc.) are “more difficult” to prove than physical disabilities. This question is similar, of course, to the question often asked of certain other kinds of disabilities, like Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and other similar (often designated as “auto-immune” disabilities) medical conditions.
In my experience, there is no single generic answer to the question of whether or not a particular medical disability is “more difficult” to prove than another. In my experience, I have gotten approved an application for Major Depression based upon a single-page note from a Psychiatrist; on the converse/inverse experience, I have had cases rejected at the First Stage of the process (but, fortunately, had the same cases approved at the Second, Reconsideration Stage) showing chronic, failed-back syndrome cases where prior surgical discectomies, multiple diagnostic MRIs showing incontrovertible basis for severe and radiating pain, and multiple specialists verifying the client’s clear and irrefutable inability to perform the essential elements of his/her job. In preparing a Federal disability retirement retirement application, my many years of experience has taught me a number of elementary & foundational lessons: First, a clear and concise presentation of providing a direct nexus between the particular medical condition and the type of job that the Federal/Postal employeee performs, is very important; Second, it is very rarely the volume of records which is convincing; rather, it is the quality of the medical report which is paramount; and Third, it often depends upon which OPM Disability Specialist it is assigned to, which sometimes “makes the difference” between approval and denial.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Mental/Nervous Condition | Tagged: attorney for US government employees, auto-immune disabilities, Bi-polar disorder in OPM disability, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CDC) and Postal/Federal workers, elementary & foundational lessons, essential elements of jobs, federal workers comp, federal workers with panic attacks, FERS Disability, Fibromyalgia in OPM disabiity retirement, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Health Conditions and the Federal and Postal Employee, how to win an OPM disability case, injured postal worker, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Major Depression cases in the USPS, medical condition(s), medical reports in the OPM disability retirement application, mental condition in OPM disability, Nexus between Medical Condition and Essential Elements, OPM "difficult" disabilities, OPM disability application tips and strategies, OPM Disability Specialist, OPM mental condition, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among fed workers, psychiatric disability in OPM Disability Retirement, psychiatric medical disabilities, psychiatrist, psychologist, severe and radiating pain, stress in federal jobs | Leave a comment »
