How to Get Disability After an Accident
Accident victims can get disability if the injury is permanently disabling. A permanent condition is a condition that’s fatal or expected to last at least a year. A disability is basically a medical condition that prevents the applicant from obtaining and holding an SGA (substantial gainful activity) job. SGA is essentially a job that pays enough money to lift the applicant, along with any dependents, above the poverty line.
In each case, a Tampa Social Security Disability lawyer must establish the basic elements set forth for each injury. Medical evidence is the backbone of a Social Security Disability claim. Statements from friends and co-workers, who discuss the effect the injury has on the applicant, are often relevant as well. So are employment, educational, and other such records which further explore the legal definition of disability. Note that these aren’t the only car crash injuries that qualify for disability. They’re just the most common ones.
Social Security’s Listings for Fractures of the Leg or Arm
The Social Security Administration’s Blue Book focuses on several kinds of fractures. Each fracture has different rules regarding the extent of impairment.
Generally, if a victim has a fracture of the thigh, shin, pelvic, or tarsal bones (in the foot), a Tampa Social Security Disability lawyer must establish:
- A non-healing fracture with no “solid union” of the bone, and
- An extreme mobility impairment which requires a walker or two crutches that also impairs arm functions.
The rules are similar for fractures of the arm, wrist, or elbow bones. To meet this disability listing, you would need to prove you have:
- Nonunion of the bone,
- Ongoing medical treatment, and
- No functional use of the arms (unable to pick up items with hands and fingers and/or use an arm to carry objects) for at least twelve months.
These fractures highlight the two kinds of evidence discussed above. Medical evidence, like a bone scan, X-Ray, or MRI, establish nonunion. Lay statements establish lack of functionality.
Social Security’s Listing for Back Disorders
These conditions, which often involve pre-existing conditions, include severe degenerative disc disease, a slipped disk, or a broken vertebra. To meet this disability listing, you would need to prove you have one of the following conditions:
- Compression of a nerve root shown by an MRI or other imaging, or
- Diagnosis of lumbar spinal stenosis shown by an MRI or other imaging.
Applicants with pre-existing conditions, like old back injuries, are usually eligible for full SSD benefits, unless the pre-existing condition substantially caused the back or other disability.
Social Security’s Listings for Soft Tissue Injuries
These injuries include whiplash and other injuries to tendons, ligaments, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and skin. Social Security defines soft tissue injuries to also include burns. Benefits are available if:
- You have soft tissue injuries or burns to any body part,
- You’re receiving ongoing surgical treatment, or
- You haven’t reached a point where no further improvement is expected.
Additional requirements apply for applicants with severe burns and/or internal bleeding.
Social Security’s Listing for Traumatic Brain Injuries
Social Security listing 11.18 covers traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). To qualify under the TBI listing, your car accident must have caused you extreme difficulty in one of the following, for at least three months after the accident:
- Balance while standing or walking
- Stand up from a seated position, or
- Use the arms and/or hands.
Alternatively, if you have a limitation in your physical functioning that isn’t severe enough to be extreme, you can meet the listing if your mental abilities are severely limited. Examples include issues understanding, remembering, or using information, interacting socially, concentrating and working quickly, adapting to new changes, regulating your emotions, and/or taking care of yourself.
Contact a Diligent Hillsborough County Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to important financial benefits. For a confidential consultation with an experienced Social Security Disability lawyer in Tampa, contact Kobal Law. We routinely handle matters throughout the Sunshine State.
Source:
ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/ssi/03/SSR82-23-ssi-03.html
