How to file a SSD claim for Digestive Disorders?
Human body is designed in a way as to process food to obtain usable fuel and to discard all that is unusable. While food passes through gastrointestinal tract, it needs to be digested. Nutrients are converted into a form that can be easily assimilated by the body. This work is done by digestive enzymes that are chemicals causing food to break down into components that are usable. When food is broken down, small intestine plays an important role to absorb them into blood.
Kinds of digestive disorders
While digestion is a huge process, it can be understood that when one part of this complex system does not function in a way that it has to, several disorders occur. Digestive disorders can include gastrointestinal hemorrhaging, hepatic dysfunction, inflammatory bowel syndrome, short bowel syndrome, malnutrition and liver transplant. Each of these are given different treatments by the social security administration and the below discussed section deals with them in detail.
How do you qualify for SSD benefits?
When digestive disorders go on to become a disability that impairs your routine living activities and also prevents you from taking an employment opportunity that results in monetary gain, you may be eligible for social security disability (SSD) benefits. However, there are strict criteria that are laid down in the list of impairments manual which need to be met with.
Gastrointestinal hemorrhaging
When blood transfusion of a minimum of 2 units is required, the claimant is considered eligible. Such episodes should occur for a minimum of three times in a six month period (with an interval of at least 30 days between each transfusion).
Hepatic dysfunction
When one of the following seven symptoms is medically documented
(1) Hemorrhaging due to portal hypertensive hastropathy and / or ectopic, esophageal or gastric varices that result in hemodynamic instability and demands hospitalization for the purpose of blood transfusion.
(2) At least two evaluations of ascites or hydrothorax but not as a result of other causes in spite of sustained treatment.
(3) Hepatorenal syndrome showing at least 2mg/dl elevation of serum creatinine or 500 ml or less output of urine in 24 hours due to Oliguria or less than 10 mEq for every liter of urine sodium due to sodium retention.
(4) Peritoneal fluid comprising absolute neutrophil count of a minimum of 250 cells / mm3 due to spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.
(5) Arterial oxygenation or contrast enhanced intrapulmonary arteriovenous shunting due to hepatopulmonary syndrome.
(6) Liver disease at the final stage where SSA CLD scores are 22 or higher.
Inflammatory bowel syndrome should be documented by operative findings or suitable medical imaging or endoscopy or bioscopy. If you suffer from short bowel syndrome, you will be approved when your daily nutrition is dependent on a catheter because of operation resection of at least half of the small intestine. Malnutrition denoting considerable weight loss where claimants have a BMI less than 17.5 calculated at least two times in a six month time frame. Claimants with a liver transplant can claim benefits for a period of one year from the date of transplant. When you meet any of the criteria listed above, you become eligible for SSD benefits.
