I truly am in need of legal and soon mental health assistance. Here is my story:
I experienced a brain aneurysm in 2004 I believe it was and had neuro-surgery
with a clipping (sub-arachnoid)
. This was the end result of being struck/run into by a drunken driver in 1997. I applied for SSD in 1997 and again
in 2004. Only to be denied and denied and denied. I was also medically retired
for physical disabilities from the USMC in 1981, not to mentioned several other
disabling conditions I suffer from (PTSD, asplenic, Hep-C,etc). I worked as a
Respiratory Therapist and an Electrician but have been unable to complete a work
week since 1997 and now especially since the aneurysm in 2004. Some days are
almost unmanageable. Anyways, I have been continually denied by Social Security
and am now at the district court level and have been denied once again. It is of
extreme importance that I find legal assistance or representation to once again
file an appeal before I run out of time. It is now a matter of legal and not
medical determination which I’m finding extremely hard to believe. Is our system
that miussed up ? This time it is called a brief and I have to either have it
submitted or file an extension by mid March or everything goes away after 12
years and about as many denials. I’m not exactly sure what is going on with all
this now that it is a legal issue but I do know that something is very very
wrong. In June of 2009 after a year and a half of mental and physical testing
from the V.A. and out-sourcing to the private sector to see if I could return to
the VocRehab (Chp 31) program I received a letter stating I was un-trainable and
un-employable. Please help, anything will help at this point. This is absolutely
crazy and I’ve almost become homeless once again due to the meager income from
my V.A. Comp I do receive. There is so much more and I have a 950+ page
transcript now that I don’t believe is all inclusive of everything that has been
submitted over these past years…Something is very wrong with all this to have
gone to this level and to have taken so very long. Please help.
Please
contact me with any reference or contact that could be of assistance. I soon
need to file for an extension in district court for the Social Security Claim
and haven’t heard anything about my PTSD claim with the V.A. in some time. I
believe the problem lies in that both agencies are using the other as a
scapegoat or something ? I need to get some resolution with both of these
matters concerning my disabilities and the claims I’ve made. It has been close
to a decade on most of these issues and I have provided ALL the evidence and
diagnosis which were cited in the continual denials and have even provided
additional evidence to once again be denied. I can not seem to find an attorney
to step up to the plate at the District Court Level, most say I should have had
an attorney from the start, hind site is not what I’m looking for in the present
I need an attorney because I survived a brain aneurysm and have multiple other
disabilities and am unable to return to the work force and it is all
documented.
Thank you,
John Penwarden - aneurysm survivor -
medically retired disabled veteran - Portland, Oregon USA
My goodness John, who would have thought that they would make you go through so much. I just had my rupture in Oct. 09 but I am back at work. I could not afford to wait until they decided to accept or reject me. Luckily I have a job that is very supportive and understanding. Sometimes I have good days and others I can barely remember how to spell my name. The job that I have is very stressful and requires mandatory overtime during tax season. I have not went through the roughest part of it yet so, I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I am able to keep up. The disability issues, I was not ready to face being a single mother of 4 year-old twins. I have to work because who knows how long it will take for them to grant or not to grant the disability. The best of luck to you my friend and I will keep you in my prayers. Keep the faith!
Thank you for your reply Charlotte, I am truly grateful for your prayers, they are the most powerful and effective tool that there is. I will keep you in my prayers as well. I guess it really takes a survivor to understand the grief involved withthe “what’s next” thing. It has been about a decade I’ve been attempting to make this claim happen myself because of financial reasons. However, my recommendation would be to get an attorney as soon as you can on the claim. I found that if you don’t have one after your first denial (which is common to be denied at first - it is like of form letter) then you have to wait until it goes through the Appeals Council to the District Court Level which is where I am now. Not that many attorneys will even look at it at this level even though most are proclaimed Social Security Attorneys, most can not handle it at District Court Level. So please get one early on. My prayers go out to you and yours, May God’s wonderful grace and tremendous Blessings be poured out to you and yours through this whole process.
Have a wonderful day - OK - and thanx again
John Penwarden - aneurysm survivor - medically retired disabled veteran
charlotte reagan said:
My goodness John, who would have thought that they would make you go through so much. I just had my rupture in Oct. 09 but I am back at work. I could not afford to wait until they decided to accept or reject me. Luckily I have a job that is very supportive and understanding. Sometimes I have good days and others I can barely remember how to spell my name. The job that I have is very stressful and requires mandatory overtime during tax season. I have not went through the roughest part of it yet so, I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I am able to keep up. The disability issues, I was not ready to face being a single mother of 4 year-old twins. I have to work because who knows how long it will take for them to grant or not to grant the disability. The best of luck to you my friend and I will keep you in my prayers. Keep the faith!
UNBELIEVABLE! That is so “crazy” to say the least. It’s bad enough to experience the trauma of going through a brain aneursym then deal with the jaded dealings of the system. How can that be? How can one defend the rights in which we are all entitled, have supporting evidence of the facts and be disgaurded as it doesn’t matter?? I wish I could have answers but all I can offer is words of encouragment.
I left my job after 13 years because it physically became too much. Yet I wasn’t ENTITLED to anything. it amazes me how you can pour your heart and soul in to being a big contributor to society yet when the tables are turned you are left holding the ball and on your own to figure it out.
You are in my thoughts and prayers and continue to push forward I believe you will find the loop hole that you need to get what you are entitled to ~Best Regards~Nikki
First I want to thank you very much for your words of encouragement. Next, I want to say that it could not have come at a better time. I have to file an extension in District Court by the end of the week and the few attorneys that reviewed the 950+ page transcripts don’t feel as though it is a winning case ? My thought here is what? didn’t realize I had to win my disability award. Being a brain aneurysm survivor along with several other disabilities (PTSD, Hep-C, A-splenic,etc) not to mention the physical disabilities I was medically retired from the USMC for one would think that my claim would have been awarded long ago ? Now it is a legal question and I need to win ? Really whats going on with this all is my sincere question ? Someone has dropped the ball along the way and I might end up being the one to continue to suffer financially because of it ?
Anyways, need to draft and write an extension for District Court and have it submitted by Friday. Thank you again and have a fantastic weekend…John Penwarden - aneurysm survivor - medically retired disabled veteran -
Portland, Oregon USA
Nikki Batts said:
UNBELIEVABLE! That is so “crazy” to say the least. It’s bad enough to experience the trauma of going through a brain aneursym then deal with the jaded dealings of the system. How can that be? How can one defend the rights in which we are all entitled, have supporting evidence of the facts and be disgaurded as it doesn’t matter?? I wish I could have answers but all I can offer is words of encouragment. I left my job after 13 years because it physically became too much. Yet I wasn’t ENTITLED to anything. it amazes me how you can pour your heart and soul in to being a big contributor to society yet when the tables are turned you are left holding the ball and on your own to figure it out.
You are in my thoughts and prayers and continue to push forward I believe you will find the loop hole that you need to get what you are entitled to ~Best Regards~Nikki
Yes, thank you for your response. I’m continuing to fight the good fight. Since I posted this I have gone through “Voluntary Settlement Procedure” and the general counsel for SS basically conceded and asked her client for a settlement. However, SS declined to settle so I’ve til the 21st of December to enter an Opening Brief in District Court. I’m going to use the “Voluntary Settlement Procedure” as an outline and can only hope and pray this will be the end of it. I’m prepared to appeal this to the highest court in the land and will do so if un-settled. Just doesn’t seem right at all having to basically battle through the various steps and be continually denied. I’ve everything as far as documentation and evidence needed and honestly do not understand why this continues ? Thanks for your reply post was beginning to think that BAF was being way over abundant with the non-related stuff in their posts lately, such as school & job stuffs, and almost deleted them from my list. Glad I didn’t now though. Have a fantastic day - OK…
Thank U for ur answer. Yes the people here do often get ‘off course’ … but for A LOT of them they don’t have personal friends on the PC & ‘annie’ affects ALL of our lives in EVERY way. Also: Some relatives don’t care to educate them selves & life is overwhelming after an ‘annie’ for the survivor. MORE so than most people CARE or even TRY to understand. Life, in general, takes a lot of patience.
Please let me know how this goes for you. Some of us DO listen…
John,
I am just amazed…and, cannot imagine all you have gone thru and/or have to do…
If I recall correctly, the BAF main site has a list of contact places…you may want to peruse… to see if you can call and/or email for help.
In your application/appeal/court brief…did you provide your med records and/or the VA record from last year?
How old / how current are your med records? Did SS assign you to neuro-psych testing?
Wishing you the very best of luck.
Sometime recently (past 2 months?) there was a lot of discussion on SS similar to yours… wish I could remember the “subject” or a name…for those…
I cannot imagine having 900+ pages…
My prayers to you…
Pat
Thank you for your response. I also belong to several other online forums and groups concerning brain aneurysms & SS disability. However, many months ago possibly a year or two back I went through most of the link pages and various suggested contacts to hopefully retain an advocate or an attorney. Finally I went to the district court and got their top ten list of attorneys, if you will, that have filed suits or represented someone in this type of case in the past two years. Nothing has worked out they all basically say that if they didn’t represent me at the earlier stages then they will not do so now. And I might add that over 80% of them do not even handle cases at the district court level even though they may have a full page in the phone book and their web sites state that they do SS work. Now that I have done the leg work and put together a “Voluntary Settlement Procedure” which the general counsel basically conceded to and asked her client (SS) for a settlement I think I can use that very same statement except I will have to reformat it to court standards now. The real reason I started the “Voluntary Settlement Procedure” was in reading the Oregon statute/law concerning this type of case I found that I could make a motion to the court for a Pro-Bono attorney once I entered into the procedure. However, the 2 attorneys that were on the Pro-Bono records have replied with they have inadequate knowledge to represent me in this case so I’m stuck back out in the storm by myself once again (Pro-Se = representing self). Honestly I feel that this whole process has been ridiculous simply because it is so very apparent that if your not represented by an attorney you have no clue and I probably would have settled long ago if I had one. The institutions such as SS, DOD, & the V.A. use each other as scape goats as you could tell from simply going through the various documents which makes it even more difficult. Anyways, long story made short is I know I’ve an award coming on my claim which is now a case to be won in district court (amazing it is just a matter of formatting and drafting it all onto a brief and submitting it by 21 December). For the first time I’m going to tell you something that I have not shared with any other. The law as of January 2010 allows a cap of $6000 to the attorney of representation and that is why most attorneys will decline to take your case unless they see a slam dunk. However, if these so called well educated mouth pieces were to actually look into the volumes of records and documents they would find that if they win they are entitled to 25% of the back pay also and in my particular claim/case that would be back to December of 1999. It should be back till March of 1999 but the legal outline in the temporary period I was awarded originally gave me 18 months and then they added 6 months grace until I could make such a claim again. Funny part about it all is I’ve never returned to work since being t-Boned by a drunken driver in January of 1997. I worked as an Electrician & a Respirtory Therapist for a number of years prior to that. I have gone to the V.A. in hopes of returning to the VocRehab program which I went to 7 years of college on and after almost 2 years of intensive mental, physical & whatever else elvauations from them and the private sector have been turned down (Their letter reads that I’m un-trainable & un-emplyable) and IO’ve submitted it as evidence as well because it is dated just a week and a half prior to the Appeals Council’s denial.
Anyways, it is truly unfair for a medically retired veteran & brain aneurysm survivor to have to go through this. Fortunately I received a meager income each months ($650 + food stamps) which has barely managed to keep me going at times. I continue to fight the good fight and thank you for your reply and especially your prayers. Prayer has been the corner post or building block that has allowed me to keep going. No one person or event has driven me down the road this far only God’s grace. Would be nice to know I’m able to fix the car or put firewood in to heat this place through the winter as well as other needed items without having to worry about how I will be able to afford it though. I can not even imagine those whom have been put in similar positions without even something to help them through the month ? My prayers go out to those people and of course I ask God’s Abundant Blessings for all who reply and contact me about it, such as yourself. Thank you !