Daniel Alan Bernath
Dear Valued Client:
I hope things are going well for you. I have some good news about the progress of your case before the Social Security Office of Disability Adjudications and Review. The staff there has sent me a notice that your case is being “worked up.” That means that it goes from the great room where 10,000 cases sit in filing cabinets and actually goes onto the desk of a case technician and/or paralegal. That means that the staff looks over the file and sees if there is anything that needs to be done to the file for it to be reviewed by the judge. It is the time that we can request that any special Consultative Exams by a government hired physician or special tests be taken to prove your disability.
It is also the time for us to update your medical records which the Administrative Law Judge will read and consider. This is a very important aspect of your case as I have observed that all of the judges will read your entire medical and legal file in the courthouse the day before the hearing. Therefore, we must ensure that all of the medical evidence is in that file before the judge looks at it.
I see from the copy of your file at the ODAR courthouse that the last medical record was dated in 200* from . WE NEED ALL OF YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS FROM THAT DATE TILL TODAY!
**If your MD won’t give you your medical records for FREE, then give him the letter I’ve enclosed (at page three)
You must now sit down with a pen and paper and write out the name and address of each of the following and get the medical records of each of the following since the Social Security Field Office denied your claim, including but not limited to;
Each clinic or hospital where treated
Each physician
Each therapist
Each nurse practitioner
Each physical therapist
Each counselor
Each emergency room doctor and visit
Each surgery and surgeon
Each acupuncturist
Each social worker
Each holistic healer,
Any workers compensation doctor who examined you or treated you and his medical evaluations of you,
Any other person who supplied you with medical services of any kind.
**Social Security requires that you fill out the enclosed questionnaire. Mail the questionnaire and any new medical evidence you obtain to me. Thereafter I will submit this new evidence to the Court and the staff will give the file to the judge for his pre-hearing review and a hearing date will be set. The date of the hearing is now imminent so you must act diligently to obtain all new medical evidence generated the date I mentioned.
**I have also enclosed a memorandum on how you should testify and what will occur. Take your time and read it. There is no rush to read it but you should get through it in about two weeks-just take your time
**Finally, I have enclosed a MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS OF MEDICAL TREATING SOURCE regarding your impairment. When you go in to see your MD in the next few weeks HAVE HIM FILL IT OUT. Usually the Mds will do this for free if you hand it to them during an office visit. Getting your most recent medical records AND getting this questionnaire filled out by your medical care provider/MD IS CRUCIAL to winning your case.
If you have any questions just give me a call as you know I am always available for your telephone calls.
Respectfully,
Daniel A. Bernath
Daniel Alan Bernath
Attorney at Law