The diagnosis of the medical condition in a Federal Disability Retirement case, either under FERS or CSRS, is merely the beginning point in preparing a case. As the Office of Personnel Management in Washington, D.C., is fond of repetitively pointing out, “The mere existence of a medical condition is not a basis for approval under Federal Disability Retirement laws.” While there may be some exceptions for certain severe medical conditions, the statement itself contains a truism which needs to be kept in mind throughout the process.
Ultimately, in preparing a Federal Disability Retirement case, one must approach the entire process (a process, by the way, which is taking longer and longer to complete, as the backlog at the Office of Personnel Management is increasingly extending the wait-time) with a view towards bridging the two critical elements in any successful filing: (A) the medical condition and (B) its impact upon one or more of the essential elements of one’s job.
It is that “connective tissue” between the two which must be the focus, and that is why the symptoms which manifest themselves from the origin (the diagnosis) is what must be discussed. For, ultimately, while the diagnosis of a medical condition provides the basis for which a medical specialist may begin treatment on a patient, it is the symptoms/symptomatologies which provide the answer to the question in all Federal Disability Retirement applications under FERS or CSRS: In what way does one’s medical condition prevent a Federal or Postal Employee from performing the essential elements of one’s job?
That is the critical question which must be answered, in order to have a chance at having one’s Federal Disability Retirement application approved by the Office of Personnel Management.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Theory and Practice: Tips and Strategies for a Successful Application | Tagged: accepting opm disability clients all across america, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, describing the applicable symptoms in the usps disability application, differentiating symptoms and conditions in an opm narrative report, disabling diagnosis information on narrative report, don't deny the severity of the symptoms, explaining the "nexus" as one of the most important issues in the medical report, explaining the medical symptoms that opm disability applicants suffer from, explaining your medical conditions in plain english during the opm medical claim, federal disability attorney, FERS disability lawyer, FERS disability retirement, FERS medical retirement, Health Conditions and the Federal and Postal Employee, how to explain your medical condition in your postal disability application, is the diagnosis of a medical condition enough to qualify for csrs disability?, law firm representing clients in opm disability law all across america, medical conditions must be explained in plain english for the 3112c, nationwide representation of federal employees, Nexus between Medical Condition and Essential Elements, one more opportunity to explain nexus, OPM disability application tips and strategies, OPM disability retirement, opm medical diagnosis and treatments, owcp disability retirement, postal service disability retirement, statutory requirements in OPM disability law, the approval process for opm disability retirement, the limited importance of a formal diagnosis in a federal disability retirement claim, the significance of symptoms in fers medical disability, the symptoms and the diagnosis in the narrative report, USPS disability retirement benefits, what is really important is the nexus of medical condition and job performance, why a formal medical diagnosis doesn't tell the whole story |
Leave a Reply