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Some people seem to enjoy talking about their ailments, but most professionals are just the opposite. They are used to functioning at an unusually high intellectual level, with a focus and drive that continually drive accomplishments forward at a rapid pace. There’s no room to slow down. There’s no tolerance for sub-par performance.

So when professionals such as physicians, psychologists, attorneys, executives, or accountants suffer from a condition that interferes with their ability to function professionally, they don’t want to talk about it. They don’t even want to think about it. And that’s a problem.

It is important to take a variety of steps toward recovery. Some of those steps will involve physical behavior. Some will involve mental and emotional healing. And still others will address logistical and practical matters, such as securing financial resources to offset lost income during the recovery period. One of those steps is to work with a Pennsylvania disability insurance lawyer on a claim for disability insurance benefits.

Talking with your doctor about your condition is hard, but common sense tells most people they need to be honest and thorough with their medical providers to receive the most effective help. Talking with other professionals—including their attorney—is usually much more difficult. However, effective communication with your lawyer is just as important as effective communication with your doctor. In this post, we will explain why it is so vital and what you can do to enable your lawyer to provide the most advantageous results for you.

The Weight of Silence

It doesn’t seem real until you say it aloud. When you’re used to functioning at a high level, it’s very hard to admit that something could prevent you from continuing to attain those high levels of accomplishment. It can impact your identity in ways you never expected. You may feel less, somehow, and be concerned that you will continue to lose part of yourself the longer it goes on.

Many professionals feel their achievements become irrelevant when they can no longer work to surpass their previous performance. There is a fear that admitting any weakness or deficiency impacts not only how they see themselves but also how others see them. There are concerns that admitting to a disabling condition will damage their reputation and cause people to lose faith in them.

So the thoughts are held back and kept quiet. But they don’t go away. They just continue to press down, relentlessly, causing tremendous harm even in silence.

When professionals are able to release these thoughts and worries and discuss their disability honestly with their attorney, the perceived weakness can actually be used to help with recovery and make it easier to move forward. As disability insurance attorneys who have been helping professionals for decades, we know how difficult it is to address the issues, but we also know that honest and open discussions are one of the most crucial steps toward recovery.

Preparation Before Your First Discussion with Your Attorney

One way to make the communication process easier and more productive is to take a little time to prepare before the first meeting. You need to consider your objective. Ultimately, of course, your objective is to secure full benefits under your policy based on the particular details of your situation. But your attorney will need to know where you are in the process. 

Are you trying to determine if you have a claim? Do you need assistance preparing and submitting your claim? Have you applied and been asked for additional information, and you’re not sure how to respond? Has your claim been denied? Or were you receiving benefits but learned that your benefits would be terminated? These are situations our team deals with all the time. Your case might fall somewhere in between, or you might not even be certain about what you need. Just give the matter some thought and be prepared to give an answer to the question, even if your answer is “I don’t know.”

Another helpful step to prepare before speaking with your attorney for the first time is to gather some basic information. This includes:

• Your disability insurance policy (all the fine print you can find)
• Your medical records pertaining to the disabling condition
• A description of your job and income. While you will eventually need very detailed information about these issues, a general summary is fine for a start
• Correspondence from the insurance company. Every word can be a term of art when dealing with insurance, so your attorney will need to know precisely what they said and any justification provided

It is not necessary to spend too much time digging up the details before you speak with the attorney, but it is important to be aware that you will need evidence of these critical details later. It can be very helpful to prepare a timeline of when your symptoms appeared and to keep an ongoing journal of the condition’s effects on your day-to-day life.

Translating Your Symptoms into Occupational Limitations

The symptoms and limitations that can prevent a professional from performing functions of their occupation are frequently different in substance and degree from those that impact other workers. It is essential to be specific when describing symptoms and how they restrict your abilities.

Professionals work in high-stakes environments performing tasks that require precision. They need to not only be able to perform the functions of their profession but also do so to a very high standard. If their ability to think or move is impaired, professionals can put others at risk by attempting to perform their job functions. Professionals generally have an ethical and practical obligation to refuse work when they do not believe they can perform with the appropriate proficiency.

To demonstrate how symptoms of an illness, injury, or chronic condition translate into an occupational limitation that qualifies for disability insurance benefits, professionals need to provide specific details about the symptoms and the tasks they interfere with. For instance, instead of a surgeon simply listing “back pain” as a symptom, that surgeon might explain that chronic pain in the lumbar spine prevents standing for more than 20 minutes at a time, and that is not sufficient time to complete the surgical procedures, which are a standard part of that surgeon’s practice. Then it would be helpful to list those procedures. To be even more persuasive, the surgeon could list the percentage of practice income attributable to each procedure they are unable to perform.

It is particularly important to be specific regarding the details of the impact when the disability involves a mental impairment that is difficult to demonstrate with physical evidence.

Your Attorney Will Serve as an Intermediary Between the Medical and Legal Fields

One reason disability insurance claimants need to know how to communicate effectively with their attorneys is that the attorney will take information from the professional filing the claim and present it to the insurance company in a way that is legally persuasive. In turn, the attorney will be working to essentially translate the requirements of the insurance company into language that is readily comprehensible to the claimant and the claimant’s physicians. When the attorney has a full and accurate understanding of the claimant’s symptoms and the impact of those symptoms, then the attorney can transmit comprehensive information to the others involved in the case, including the judge in court if necessary.

It is to be honest with your attorney. Don’t try to hide or downplay the significance of symptoms. Your attorney needs to know what you are experiencing and how it affects you. Of course, it is not wise to take the opposite approach and exaggerate symptoms to try to make an impact. Attempts to exaggerate the impact of a disability could make you appear untrustworthy.

Your attorney will be communicating extensively with physicians. Part of that process will be an assessment of the medical opinions and other evidence to ensure they provide sufficient support for your insurance claim. An experienced disability insurance lawyer will know the level of detail that insurers are looking for, and your attorney will work with physicians to obtain opinions and other records that include appropriate detail.

Part of the claim evaluation process may include additional testing by independent physicians chosen by the insurance company. There may also be evaluations by vocational experts. Your attorney should help you prepare for these assessments and warn you about tactics the insurance company may use to try to deny or undervalue your claim.

Questions to Ask When Choosing a Disability Insurance Lawyer in Pennsylvania

Before you hire a disability insurance lawyer to assist with filing a claim or appealing the denial of a claim, it is important to be certain that they have a thorough understanding of disability insurance claims. Some questions to ask when interviewing a prospective attorney include:

• How many cases have you handled for professionals in my particular field?
• Based on the terms of my policy, what do you see as the specific strengths of my case?
• What weaknesses or potential problems do you see with my case?
• How do you anticipate communicating during the process?

In addition, it is important to understand how the fee structure will work for the attorney’s services. Some lawyers charge an hourly fee for their time, while others charge a contingency fee based on a percentage of the amount recovered for the client. You should understand the type of fee and the rate or percentage charged before entering into a formal relationship with the attorney.

We Understand How Difficult Your Situation Is

When you’ve dedicated your life to excellence in your profession, it is frustrating, frightening, and depressing to be prevented from practicing at the level you’ve been accustomed to. You need time and energy to focus on your recovery, and it can be hard to do that if you’re worried about financial commitments and insurance claim requirements.

When you work with an experienced and knowledgeable private disability insurance lawyer, your attorney can manage the claims process on your behalf so that you don’t have to worry about making mistakes that could delay or prevent recovery of benefits. At Seltzer & Associates, we have been helping professionals maximize the benefits of their disability insurance policies since 1980, so we know how to achieve results efficiently. To learn more about the assistance we could provide in your situation, we invite you to call us at 888-699-4222 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.