Good Morning, my question is. I was denied disability because they said they found alcohol in my blood the day before my birthday and again in June after my friends birthday, oh and some marajuana. It is not something I do on a regular basis. Two days before all of this the emergency squad was called because I had my first seizure in my car, grand mal and it has not stopped since. I have had several MRI’s and EEG’s I was diagnosed with brain trauma who knows when that started I have had several (at least 3 or 4) concusions since 96 or 97. So I don’t know if I should get a lawyer, or can I file one more reconsideration myself. Thank you, for your consideration, Noel
Jonathan Ginsberg responds: Noel, you raise an important issue about how allegations of alcohol or drug use can “muddy the waters” of your disability claim. Social Security’s rule is that a disability claim can be denied if alcohol or drug use is a “material contributing factor” to your disability. To put this another way, would you be able to work (and otherwise control your symptoms) if you discontinued your drug or alcohol use?
The problem is that often there is no way to know for sure. In your case it would appear that your seizures arise from the brain trauma and have nothing to do with your alcohol or marijuana consumption. On the other hand, can you get your doctors to say that for certain? Is it possible that your use of alcohol or marijuana results in an increase of your seizures? That is the question that a SSA judge would ask.
My guess is that you are going to be denied at recon no matter what because administrative level SSA employees are trained to deny when they see information about drug or alcohol. I do think you should get a lawyer.
The good news (if you can call it that) is that you will most likely be waiting 12 to 18 months for a hearing. During that time, it is very important that you stay away from even casual use of drugs or alcohol.
In a private email, I am going to refer you to a very capable lawyer near where you live – you should definitely follow your lawyer’s advice about how to deal with this issue. It is very important that you and your lawyer arrive at a strategy to deal with a medical record that contains a reference to alcohol and drugs. You may very well be deserving but this alcohol/drug issue could become a bigger problem than you might imagine.
–Jonathan