Your Personal Injury Lawyers
Can Chronic Pain Qualify Me For Long-Term Disability?
Yes, chronic pain may be recognized as a qualifying condition for long-term disability on its own. You may need to prove the severity of your chronic pain and how it affects your life and ability to work in order to secure disability funding. In some cases, a diagnosis linking your chronic pain to an underlying injury or illness may help your case for disability coverage.
A disability lawyer may be able to guide you to compensation for your chronic pain. If your insurer denied your disability application, a lawyer may be able to help you secure compensation by suing your insurance carrier.
You May Be Able to Qualify for Long-Term Disability Based on Your Underlying Condition
While chronic pain is a qualifying condition on its own, it may also be the symptom of an underlying condition that has more clear-cut and easier-to-prove qualifications for long-term disability insurance.
Some disorders, diseases, and injuries that could be a cause of chronic pain and disability include:
- Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Carpal tunnel syndrome or cubital tunnel syndrome
- Irritable bowel syndrome or another gastrointestinal disorder
- A neurological or spinal disorder
- A back or neck injury
- Other injuries that occur as a result of physical trauma
- And more
When you file a claim based on one of these diagnoses, chronic pain is already a known symptom of the condition, and the evidence in your case may rely less on your own subjective account of your pain.
Documenting Your Chronic Pain
You may want to document the ways your chronic pain has affected your life, even if it is not an everyday or regular occurrence, as chronic pain may qualify you for long-term disability.
Your documentation may include a pain journal where you keep track of when the pain occurs, how intense it is, and how this impacts your ability to work or perform tasks.
You may also gather statements from family or colleagues who have witnessed your chronic pain’s impact on your ability to work.
Your medical record may show that you have undergone and continue to seek appropriate treatment. Treatments for chronic pain may include:
- Medications
- Injections
- Physiotherapy
- Massage therapy or chiropractic care
- Seeing a doctor at a pain clinic
- And more
Evidence that you are undergoing treatment for your chronic pain but continue to have symptoms may be useful in your case for long-term disability insurance.
Fighting a Denial of Long-Term Disability Benefits
If you filed for long-term disability benefits, but the insurance carrier denied your claim, you may be able to file an internal appeal.
In many cases, a lawyer may recommend you consider an external appeal, or lawsuit, instead. This process takes the determination of your disability out of the hands of the insurance company and puts it into the hands of the court.
Under the Limitations Act, you likely only have two years from the date of your initial denial to file a lawsuit in your case. In some cases, a one-year time limit may apply. Filing an internal appeal may not extend this deadline.
It is important that you retain the right to file a lawsuit in case the insurance company denies your appeal. A disability lawyer may be able to help you decide how you should proceed based on the facts and timeline of your case.
Talk to Preszler Injury Lawyers About Your Long-Term Disability Denial
Preszler Injury Lawyers may be able to help you understand the options in your long-term disability case. Chronic pain may qualify you for long-term disability, but if your insurance company denied your application for long-term disability benefits, we may be able to help you file an internal appeal or build a case to challenge the insurance company in a lawsuit. Our firm is not afraid to take insurance companies to court if they are not willing to give you a fair offer based on the facts of your case.
Call Preszler Injury Lawyers today at 1-800-JUSTICE to learn more about how we may be able to help. Our legal team serves Toronto and all areas throughout the province of Ontario. If you are unable to travel to meet with our team, we may be able to come to you.
Initial consultations are free, and our firm operates on a contingency-fee-basis with no up-front costs to our clients.
