If you suffer from heart failure, your physician might place permanent restrictions on what you can do in the workplace. An extended time away from work means you should submit a claim for Social Security disability benefits.
Permanent Restrictions You May Experience with Heart Failure
Heart failure can result in one or more debilitating symptoms that lead your doctor to place permanent restrictions on you in the workplace.
You might suffer from intense chest pains, as well as experience erratic breathing and prolonged stints of dizziness. Heart failure has an especially negative impact on a worker who performs mostly physical tasks.
If you suffer from heart failure and you work a physically demanding job, your physician might restrict how long you can perform physically demanding work each day.
The good news is heart failure can be a treatable disease. Your physician can recommend several lifestyle changes that include eating healthier and exercising daily.
Doctors typically treat heart conditions with one or more types of medications, although prescription drugs are more of a short-term remedy for the symptoms of heart disease.
Longer-term healthcare solutions include undergoing coronary bypass surgery or having a heart valve repaired or replaced.
Work History and Job Skills
Because of significant physical impairments, a worker who suffers from heart failure might have to look for a new career. A review of your job skills and work history can give the team of medical examiners at the Social Security Administration (SSA) insight into your areas of occupational expertise.
After conducting a review of your job skills and work history, the SSA might determine that you should pursue a different career.
Undergoing a Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) assessment can help you find the best position to match the physical limitations put on you by heart failure. A physician from the SSA will conduct a series of tests to determine your physical strengths and weaknesses.
For a heart failure patient, many of the tests conducted by a physician from the SSA focus on measuring stamina. Chronic fatigue represents the most common symptom of heart failure.
Can I Perform Sedentary Work?
A disabling condition such as heart failure can make it difficult, if not impossible to work in a physically demanding position. The answer to the occupation dilemma is to find a job that involves sitting for most of each workday.
Since sitting does not require much physical exertion, you might pursue a career as an accountant, graphic designer, or computer programmer.
If you change careers because of heart failure, you might be eligible for financial assistance when it comes to paying for education expenses.
Schedule a Free Case Evaluation
Suffering from the symptoms of heart failure can have lasting implications that cover the rest of your life. Because of the financial impact that heart failure has on most patients, you should reach out to a Social Security disability attorney to help you file a claim with the SSA.
Your lawyer can ensure you meet the deadline for filing a Social Security disability benefits claim, as well as help your gather and organize persuasive medical evidence.
Schedule a free case evaluation today with a Social Security lawyer.
