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Toronto Cancer Claims Lawyer
As far as disabling conditions go, cancer is unique. While some cancers directly prevent you from working, in many cases it is the cancer treatment that causes disability and prevents you from working. The varieties of cancers and different stages of the disease can make getting long-term disability (LTD) benefits especially difficult.
If you are pursuing LTD benefits for cancer, you will need to establish not only the presence of the disease, but that the disease or the treatments for it prevent you from working. A lawyer can compile medical evidence and work with expert witnesses to prove the effects of your condition and its limitations.
They also deal with LTD insurers who may try to unfairly deny your long-term disability claim or reduce the benefits you receive.
An experienced Toronto cancer long term disability lawyer can help disabled people in Toronto build solid cases that establish their disability and inability to work because of it.
Building a LTD Claim
Ultimately, you must prove that your condition prevents you from working to qualify for long-term disability benefits. If you are applying for LTD benefits based on your cancer, the insurance company will evaluate a few elements.
The Type of Cancer
The medical community typically regards some skin cancers as the least dangerous and disabling forms of cancer. Doctors usually treat these cancers with minor surgery and in many cases they do not qualify for LTD benefits.
On the other side of the spectrum are lung and pancreatic cancers, which are either difficult to identify at treatable stages or progress rapidly.
The Treatment
Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery are three common clinical treatments for cancer. Chemotherapy and radiation can make a cancer patient very sick. Depending on the severity of the side effects and the duration of treatment, the treatment alone can prevent you from working. Even after chemotherapy or radiation treatment ends, the effects can linger well after.
If you cannot work due to either your cancer or the treatment, you may qualify for disability benefits. After your short-term disability benefits run out after a couple of months, the insurance company will evaluate our condition to determine if it still prevents you from working in your current occupation. After two years, the insurance company will again evaluate your condition, this time to determine if it prevents you from working in any occupation.
Denying the Claim
While the insurance company is investigating the validity of your Toronto cancer long-term disability claim, it may also be looking for reasons to deny your claim. If it finds inadequate evidence that your cancer or treatment is disabling and preventing you from working, the insurer may deny your claim.
Approving your Claim Based on a Mental Disorder
Insurers may also try to approve your Toronto cancer long-term disability claim for depression and anxiety, common conditions accompany cancer and cancer treatment, instead of cancer. LTD benefits for mental disorders may be lower than for cancer because they do not last as long.
Paying Only During Treatment
Some insurers may also try to pay LTD benefits only while you are receiving treatment. Others may argue that you will not receive chemotherapy treatment long enough to qualify for benefits.
A cancer long term disability claims lawyer in Toronto may use testimony from your doctor or other medical experts and records of your diagnosis and medical care to establish that it is your cancer and related treatment that causes your disability. They may also work with vocational experts and other evidence to prove that you are unable to work due to your cancer and/or the treatments, including after your chemotherapy treatment is complete.
After two years when the insurance company evaluates your ability to work in any occupation, a lawyer can again provide evidence that your condition and treatment is preventing you from working in any occupation.
Contacting a Lawyer
When you work with a Toronto cancer long term disability lawyer, they will provide an insider’s look at the ins and outs of cancer LTD claims in Toronto. Their knowledge of how the insurance company thinks and acts helps them avoid pitfalls as they gather evidence and submit their claim, so there are fewer delays and surprises along the way.
