Complete a post-examination questionnaire (attached below) as soon after your examination as possible, and return it to us so that we can attack the report, if necessary.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nWhat You Can Do To Help Your Claim at a Consultative Evaluation<\/h2>\n\n\n\nAssume You Are Being Watched at All Times<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
First of all, realize that you are being observed from the time you arrive – even walking in from the parking lot. That means the doctor or someone on his staff may be watching you walk in and watching you in the waiting room. Everything is being noted, even whether you drove or somebody’s driving you, and that does find its way into the evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, let’s say you walk in, have a perfectly normal gait (walking pattern), and don’t seem bent over in pain. But when you walk into the doctor’s office, you are limping and complaining that everything hurts. You can’t get on and off the examination table. The doctor is going to note that discrepancy in the report. So, don’t come in and then start really playing up for the doctor. Just be yourself and tell the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t Exaggerate Symptoms or Malinger<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Second, physical and mental health doctors are looking for examples of symptom exaggeration or malingering. Using a variety of tests (they’re not going to tell you that they’re giving you those tests; they’re just going to be doing them), they’re going to be trying to figure out whether you are over-exaggerating your symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, again, you want to be very truthful. You want to be very forthcoming about what you’re dealing with. But don’t exaggerate, don’t say everything hurts you 24 hours a day to the point you can’t focus and concentrate ever. It’s much better to say, “This particular issue – my hand – was hurting before, but it’s much better now. The main problem now is my neck problem\u2026”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If something is improved, tell the doctor that. If the medicines are working, tell the doctors that. And if something is really bothering you, let them know. It’s much better to come across as credible, believable, and honest than saying, “Everything is hurting me.” That’s just not going to fly, especially with a doctor that might have a built-in bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bring Your Own Objective Medical Records<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
If you’ve been going to your own doctor for months or years, supply the consultative doctor with your medical records and reports, including things like MRIs, CT-Scans, x-rays, ultrasound records, etc., so that the consultative doctor will have that background information when he or she sees you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctors are less likely to go against the opinion of a longtime treating doctor. I’m not saying they won’t ever do it. But if you have a doctor that says, “I read this MRI and there is a significant problem with a bulging disc that has a nerve root impingement”, it’s much, much less likely the consultative doctor is going to basically say there’s nothing wrong with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same goes for a psychological examination. If you go in and you have reports of a psychiatric hospitalization and significant problems noted by a treating doctor, the psychologist doing the exam is less likely to say that long-time treating providers are incorrect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctors don’t like to contradict one another. If there are records in there that talk about specific and significant problems, it’s more likely that the consultative doctor will basically echo those reports and find that you have some significant problems as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summary and Advice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So those are a couple of thoughts I have about the SSA’s medical examinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing I find just absurd about this whole process is a doctor who will examine you, who knows nothing about you, and sees no records at all, will basically be doing a one-hour evaluation and making conclusions that could really turn the decision in your disability case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You definitely want to go. You want to be on time. And like I said, you want to be completely truthful. And, if you can, provide background information about you to the doctor so that he or she won’t be going in blind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, if you go to the consultative doctor and the doctor only spends five minutes with you, doesn’t touch you, asks you only a couple of questions, and has you leave – make note of that. That may be grounds to object to the weight given to the consultative examination if it was only for five minutes and really nothing much was done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To that end, you may consider filling out the attached Post Consultative Examination Questionnaire, which may convince the judge or adjudicator to give the CE report less weight as evidence in the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FREE RESOURCE: <\/strong>Post Consultative Examination Questionnaire<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nGet Help with Your Social Security Disability Claim<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Do you need assistance with your Social Security Disability claim? Our team can help you navigate the process smoothly. From filling out forms to gathering necessary medical documentation, our team is here to assist you. Let us handle the legwork while you focus on your well-being. Contact us today for a free case review. Call (888) 321-8131<\/a><\/strong> today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You may be here because either your Administrative Law Judge or the Department of Disability Services (DDS) arm of the Social Security Administration (SSA) has scheduled an appointment for you to see one of their doctors, either a medical doctor or psychologist. These are commonly called Medical Examinations (ME) or Consultative Examinations (CE). Refer to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-security-disability","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickortizlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}