A question that our team at Disability Associates often hears from prospective clients is “can I receive Social Security Disability for a heart attack?” Like with so many other aspects of Social Security Disability law, it depends. You must first see if you fall under the SSA’s definition of disabled.
Can I Receive Social Security Disability For A Heart Attack?
If you happen to fall under the SSA’s definition of disabled, meaning that your condition has rendered you unable to fulfill your duties and tasks at work for at least 12 months, it is possible that you may be eligible for Social Security Disability benefits. As you can imagine, the effects of a heart attack are unique to each and every individual. No two victims of a heart attack are alike in terms of recovery time and ongoing health issues.
So, one person may have a heart attack, but within a month or two, they have recovered fully with the probable exception of having dietary restrictions. This person is fully capable of resuming their normal personal and professional activities. On the other end of the spectrum, there may be somebody who had a more severe or “massive heart attack” which resulted in permanent damage to their heart’s functional capabilities. Thus, the victim of this heart attack has been rendered severely limited physically and is very clearly unable to work.
Most people that have suffered a heart attack land somewhere towards the middle of this spectrum, which is why it is so necessary to do your due diligence when it comes to properly and accurately evaluating your condition.
What Social Security is always looking for is:
- What is wrong with you?
- What are the various health problems that you have?
- What treatment did you receive/ are continuing to receive?
- How have you responded to your treatment?
The last bullet point is important to consider because everybody responds to their treatments differently. Based on the above questions, Social Security is going to make a determination as to how severely limited you are and whether your problems are keeping you from working and doing any kind of job at all.
So, that is the overall picture of how a case for someone who has suffered from a heart attack will be evaluated. It all depends on the degree of limitations that you have and how long that they lasted. Remember, Social Security requires that whatever your condition, it has kept your from working for at least 12 months.
About Disability Associates
Our team at Disability Associates views our clients as more than just another case. We build genuine relationships with each and every one of our clients to ensure that they are comfortable during this stressful time. We value honesty, good communication, and compassion, and implement these values with every client we have. In building these relationships, our clients trust that we will provide competent representation and will do our best to get them the Social Security benefits they deserve.