When Stroke Complications Prevent Employment, Our Seasoned Louisiana Social Security Disability Lawyer Helps Clients Secure Much-Needed SSDI Benefits
Strokes are among the leading causes of disability and death in Louisiana, impacting countless lives each year. If you suffered a stroke resulting in lasting complications that prevent you from sustaining substantial gainful activity, you might qualify for vital Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.
At Phillip M. Hendry Law, our knowledgeable and experienced Social Security disability lawyer helps clients with debilitating stroke complications explore their SSDI eligibility, prepare their applications, and navigate the disability evaluation process to obtain the financial support they deserve from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Strokes are medical emergencies caused by a sudden interruption in the brain’s blood supply, often due either to a clot or fatty deposit blocking the blood flow or to a ruptured blood vessel bleeding inside the brain. These disruptions deprive your brain of critical oxygen and nutrients or increase pressure on brain cells, leading to damage or death of the affected cells.
Depending on their severity, strokes can cause lasting brain damage that results in wide-ranging complications, including paralysis, muscle weakness, speech impairment, cognitive deficits, and emotional changes that can significantly affect your daily life and ability to perform work-related tasks.
Exploring Basic SSDI Eligibility
The SSA imposes strict criteria for SSDI approval. To be eligible for SSDI benefits after a stroke, you must:
- Have accumulated sufficient credits working in jobs that paid into Social Security. Though the required number of work credits varies depending on how old you were when you became disabled, applicants generally need 40 credits, 20 of which were earned ten years before disability onset.
- Have stroke-related impairments severe enough to prevent you from engaging in substantial gainful employment for one year or longer. You could also be eligible for SSDI if your complications are expected to last for a shorter duration but result in death.
Meeting or Equaling a Blue Book Listing After a Stroke
Recognizing that severe and long-lasting stroke complications can make it impossible to maintain stable employment, the SSA includes strokes in its Blue Book, a medical guide detailing qualifying conditions and criteria applicants must meet for SSDI approval. The SSA evaluates SSDI applications for strokes under Neurological Impairments, or Section 11.00 of the Blue Book, where it is listed as Vascular Insult to the Brain, Section 11.04. Meeting the listing and gaining approval for SSDI benefits requires evidence of:
- Sensory or motor aphasia resulting in ineffective speech or communication that persists for at least three consecutive months after your stroke, OR
- Disorganization of motor functions in two extremities, resulting in extreme limitation in the ability to rise from a seated position, balance while standing or walking, or use the upper extremities, that lasts for at least three consecutive months after your stroke, OR
- Marked limitation in physical functioning AND in one of the following areas of mental functioning that continue for three consecutive months after your stroke: understanding, remembering, or applying information; interacting with others; concentrating, persisting, or maintaining pace; or adapting or managing oneself.
Don’t meet the eligibility criteria for strokes? You could still qualify for SSDI benefits if you can show that your stroke-related impairments are as disabling as another condition that qualifies.