Ask a treating doctor for facts used in the disability evaluation
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- Draft a letter asking for the doctor's findings on current work, the severity of the impairment, the clinical findings, past work, and the ability to do work activities. Do not ask the doctor to state that a listing is met.
- What the lawyer must review
- The Social Security Administration's disability guide uses a sequential evaluation. For an adult the steps are current work activity, severity, whether the impairment meets or medically equals a listing, past relevant work, and the ability to do other work given age, education and work experience. For a child applying for supplemental security income the steps are current work activity, severity, and whether the impairment meets, medically equals or functionally equals a listing. The listing criteria are in Part III, which you open. You do not ask the doctor to apply them. You check every sentence of the letter before it is sent. If the Administration can decide at a step, it stops. Formal Opinion 512: you remain responsible for the letter.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUS
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Potential support includes preparing preliminary structure or wording. Confirm the tool’s capability and permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Trace every relied-on figure to its source, confirm dates and assumptions, and independently recalculate totals or derived amounts.
- Verify the applicable jurisdiction and the version of each relevant law, rule or instrument in force at the material time.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.