The Problem With Social Security’s Medical Examiners

During the Social Security Disability decision process, you may encounter a medical examiner. These examiners are paid very little and often spend very little time with each claimant and have little or nothing by way of relevant background records about claimants’ medical conditions.

 When family members have important information to share about the disability (including when the claimant suffers from a severe psychiatric problem), these examination mills far too often bar friends and family members from providing relevant information regarding the person’s situation. Administrative Law Judges often quite eagerly rely upon these allegedly independent “expert” reports, and the cursory box-checking of doctors in Springfield (again, getting paid by the government) who have never seen the claimant but interpret these and other records.