If you are disabled and unable to work in the Los Angeles area, have an experienced Los Angeles Social Security disability lawyer help you apply for disability benefits. A tragic story out of Atlanta shows the importance of having an attorney assist you and putting that attorney on your case as early as possible. Melissa Kern, only 42, suffered from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS” or Lou Gehrig’s disease). Ms. Kern spent seven years trying to obtain Social Security disability benefits, and for seven years, her benefits were denied.
Ms. Kern was turned down for Social Security disability benefits because she left the workforce just 18 months short of having the necessary work credits. But she stopped working because of the ALS symptoms. Her husband told Atlanta’s Channel 11, “It’s been hard with someone who is so obviously disabled for them to deny it. A lot of times, not even to look at any of the medical records and things like that, because of one technicality. To deny it out of hand astonished everybody.”
When the television station aired the story in January, Social Security officials agreed to reopen the case, and they determined that Ms. Kern in fact did qualify to receive Social Security disability benefits. The first payment arrived this spring. Ms. Kern died only days later. The Kern family will now get more than $71,000 in Social Security benefits going back years. Their 13-year-old son will receive monthly benefits until he is 18.
Although Ms. Kern’s case is unique, the truth is that it’s difficult for most recipients to qualify for disability benefits. The paperwork and medical evidence that you must provide to the Social Security Administration is extensive and complicated, and the system is backlogged, but no one should have to wait seven years – or pass away – to receive monthly payments. If you are disabled with ALS or with any other disabling condition in southern California, don’t wait. Get the help you need right now and call an experienced Los Angeles Social Security disability lawyer today.