Can something I say at my Disabilty hearing cause me to lose my case? My ALJ asked me if my RA had gotten worse since I quit working, I replied no, and he said "so it doesnt get worse with movement?", I replied "no" to that too, but he didnt ask me why I said that and my lawyer told me not to elaborate and to just answer the question.
What I didnt get to say is that it does not have anything that triggers it , if im working hard or sleeping it comes on and nothing stops it, and the pain has always been unbearable! and that is why I dope myself up to the point of being looney! I feel my lawyer should have asked me to explain why I answered as I did, since he told me not to elaborate in the first place!
Now Im worried the ALJ has the wrong impression and hoping he just goes by the medical evidence I presented as it is all in my favor. Did I blow it by keeping my mouth shut?
–Sherry
Jonathan Ginsberg responds: Sherry, my experience has been that judges rely more on the medical evidence in a claims file and less on the testimony of a claimant. That being said, some judges can take a statement like the one you described and use it as a basis to deny a claim.
In a case of RA (rheumatoid arthritis), I suspect that the medical record will be fairly complete so I would not stress out too much about your "incomplete" answer. You may want to ask your lawyer to send a short post-hearing brief to the judge to clarify what you said.
You did not tell me what questions were posed to the Vocational Expert – if the question only described mild impairments and resulted in an answer from the VE describing a large variety of jobs, then I would be concerned.
At the end of the day strong support from a treating doctor, preferably including functional capacity forms or Listing checklists will carry the most weight for most judges.
Please email me to let me know what happens – I’ll update this blog post when you do.
[tags] ALJ hearing, rheumatoid arthritis, vocational witness testimony, Social Security disability claimant testimony [/tags]