In February 2022, our Asheville, North Carolina client experienced a fibromyalgia flareup in addition to other severe health concerns like gastrointestinal issues and long COVID. She received her official disability diagnosis right upon the time she had to stop working, leaving no gap between her employment and disability. Many everyday tasks became too challenging such as carrying groceries bags or sitting for extended periods of time.
Dabdoub Law Firm helped her prepare and submit her claim for long-term disability benefits with Lincoln, which included addressing questions from the insurance provider in June 2022. We worked with our client’s primary care physician and the Doctor of Physical Therapy who performed a functional capacity evaluation.
Our Client Is Unable to Perform Daily Activities or Work Due to Fibromyalgia and Other Severe Conditions
Our client has been working with her doctors to access treatment, including her primary care provider’s referral to a long COVID clinic. She is committed to improving her health and being able to return to the workforce in the future. However, her medical issues have not been improving and leave her with many limitations in her daily life.
Her diagnoses include:
- Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
- Back pain
- Gastrointestinal issues including diarrhea and epigastric pain
- Depression and anxiety
In July 2022, the physician who performed our client’s functional capacity evaluation confirmed that she was “not capable of working an eight-hour day” due to her posture limitations and reduced physical capabilities.
Her debilitating symptoms such as severe pain, eye inflammation, headaches, weakness in her extremities, sleep deprivation, and inability to comprehend while reading have prevented her from shopping on her own or caring for her grandchildren. Her symptoms have reached a point where our client needs her daughter to help her with many tasks.
Lincoln Reviewed Our Client’s Claim and Approved Her Long-Term Disability Benefits
In his report, the provider who conducted our client’s functional capacity evaluation noted that she could only spend up to three hours sitting per day, which placed her below the threshold for sedentary work. Courts have been consistently agreeing that someone who cannot sit for at least four hours a day during a standard workday is unable to perform “sedentary” work.
Our client’s primary care doctor confirmed all our client’s medical diagnoses and disability situation in a letter from May 2022. In it, she outlined current and prospective treatments she was working on with our client for various health conditions.
Thanks to those medical reports and Dabdoub Law Firm’s involvement, Lincoln approved our client’s long-term disability benefits during the summer.
Disability Insurance Companies Have Lawyers. Shouldn’t You?
Our team created Dabdoub Law Firm to focus on disability insurance and we have developed expertise in this complex area of the law.
Our expertise in long-term disability claims means our clients have the backing of attorneys who:
- Are experts in disability claims;
- Fought all major disability insurance companies and know their tactics;
- Have a track record of success;
- Won major disability lawsuits that created good law; and
- Recovered millions of dollars in disability benefits.
All our lawyers commit every day of their legal career to helping people get disability benefits from UNUM, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, Prudential, Northwestern Mutual, AXA Equitable, and other insurance providers.
Because federal law applies to most disability insurance claims, we do not have to be located in your state to help. We help clients nationwide. You don’t need to worry about legal fees as we do not get paid unless we win your case.
Call us today at (800) 969-0488 to get experienced disability lawyers on your side with:
- Submitting a disability insurance claim;
- Appealing a long-term disability denial;
- Negotiating a lump-sum settlement; or
- Filing a lawsuit against your disability insurance company.
Contact Dabdoub Law Firm today at (800) 969-0488 for a free consultation with a disability attorney.
