Dear disability claimant,
Medical experts are sometimes called by administrative law judges (ALJ) to testify in disability hearings. Medical experts are not examining physicians. Their opinions are based upon the medical records and testimony presented at the hearing.
The role of a medical expert is simply to provide medical expertise to assist the ALJ in grappling with difficult medical issues. When a medical expert has been called to testify at your hearing, it means that your case involves:
1. A complicated medical issue which a medical expert may assist the ALJ in understanding,
2. A question of meeting the Listings,
3. A question of equaling the Listings,
4. A mental impairment and the ALJ feels he needs a medical expert’s help in completing the required psychiatric review technique form,
5. A question of residual functional capacity,
6. An onset date which must be “inferred” from the medical evidence, or
7. A question of failure to follow prescribed treatment.
In theory, medical experts are supposed to be neutral experts who are not expected by the Social Security Administration to favor one side or the other. In reality, the level of neutrality varies.
Your representative will need to be well prepared whenever a medical expert has been called to testify. Your attorney will try to anticipate the questions the ALJ will ask the medical expert and work out answers to these questions supported by the opinion of the treating physician or by medical treatises. Your representative will work around a truly hostile medical expert by holding the record open and submitting a well-supported letter from your treating physician addressing the issues raised by the medical expert’s testimony.
Wishing you success,
Russell W. Brown, Accredited Disability Representative