THE "PECKING ORDER" FOR DOCTORS

Social Security sent my client to a consultative exam with a doctor who is under contract with them.  The exam was extremely unfavorable.  Their doctor said, in essence, that there is nothing wrong with my client.  The client was upset, needless to say.

However, I assured him that we could use the regulations to set things straight.  You see, Social Security gives certain "pecking rights" to doctors.  The amount of weight that can be given to a doctor's opinion depends on several things.

First, if the doctor is a specialist he/she is entitled to more weight than a general practitioner.  If the doctor actually examined the claimant, his opinion is worth more than a doctor who merely looked at the medical record. If a doctor had a treating relationship with the claimant, his/her opinion is held in higher esteem than a doctor who performed a one time examination.  The longer the doctor treated the claimant, the more his/her opinion is worth.

The amount of weight that can be given to a doctor's medical opinion is explained in 20 CFR 404.1527.

I argued that a one-time examination by a doctor who had never seen my client before is entitled to very little weight.  The judge agreed and assigned great weight to the opinion of one of the treating doctors.

The Disability Determination Service will often have one of their staff doctors review a claimant's medical file.  Usually, the doctor will find that the medical file does not support disability.  I love using 404.1527 in these cases.  Not only has the DDS doctor never treated my claimant, he has never even laid eyes on him!  The chances that a judge is going to give controlling weight to the DDS doctor's opinion is Slim and None--and Slim just rode off down the Sunset Trail.

The Forsythe Firm
7027 Old Madison Pike, Suite 108
Huntsville, AL 35806
PH (256) 799-0297



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