STOP! Before You Ask Your Doctor for Medical Opinion Letter, Consider This.

Note: This article/video is for general information only and is not legal advice to any particular reader or individual. For legal advice, you must specifically retain a lawyer who evaluates your specific situation.

I routinely hear my clients say, "I will ask my doctor for a letter." To which I respond, "Don't you dare!" When the right time comes for doing so, and if he is the appropriate specialist to answer the precise questions remaining open in your claim with the SSA, I will do the asking, and the drafting, of the specific interrogatories. A letter shot from the hip of your well-intended doctor can be the nail in the coffin of your claim. Don't ask it of your treating physician or other provider unless your attorney or non-attorney representative tells you to, and if that attorney is me, you won't be generally hearing me tell you that.

Requesting a MSS/Medical Source Opinion Statement from your Medical Provider may be fraught with land mines. You can reduce your risk of sabotaging your own case by considering the tips and explanations in this video.

Remember, if you get a negative/damaging medical source statement/letter from your doctor, you are required by law or regulation to share it to the SSA - you can't hold it back. And, a provider who knows you to be actually disabled, will naturally use verbiage that, unknownst to him, says the opposite when in the culture of the SSA vernacular. Don't put yourself in the position of having facilitated damaging evidence in your own case, inadvertently. See more, below:

For consideration for Attorney SSD/SSI representation in an upcoming or pending SSDI/SSI disability claim, please fill out our free Attorney Evaluation form. We do NOT charge a retainer to serve you. If, on the other hand, you only seek an attorney level consultation/analysis of a particular situation, whether you are a company or an individual, or to discuss your own situation without representation, to learn information beyond that information you may obtain for free from the SSA itself, and you do not otherwise have a lawyer representing your before the SSA, you may order a scheduled consultation at affordable attorney rates. Contact the office at 201-317-0610 or email stephaniejoy@joydisability.com.