The Importance of Medical Records

Getting a favorable decision on a Social Security Disability Insurance claim arising from liver diseases such as Hepatitis C can be especially challenging when the symptom causing disability is fatigue.  While fatigue is the most common Hepatitis C symptom, most people with the disease are able to continue working.  Level of fatigue is not related to an objective measure such as severity of liver disease or viral levels.

When Social Security looks at your claim, they will examine your medical records for information on your symptoms and any functional limitations.  Unless you report all of your symptoms to your doctor, and make sure that his or her notes include both your reported symptoms and their impact on your functional limitations, your file will not fully and accurately present the evidence necessary for a successful outcome.

Hepatitis C can have a variety of impacts on your ability to work.  You will want to make sure that you tell your doctor if you:

• Are able to perform various activities, but are so exhausted afterwards that you require a period of rest; and/or
• Become so fatigued at a particular time of the day that you have to lie down and go to sleep; and
• The exhaustion you experience limits your ability to go to work or adequately fulfill your daily responsibilities; and
• Your medication causes you to experience side effects that limit your ability to function at work.

I generally caution my clients that just because they have told their doctor about their symptoms and limitations at one visit doesn’t mean that their doctor will understand or note in their medical records that the limitations are continuing.  Let your physician(s) know about your symptoms for as long as you experience them.  You don’t want to have any conflict between what you tell Social Security and your medical records.