The test numbers looked acceptable
A result that falls short of the criteria ends the analysis for many examiners. It should not: the question after that is what you can still do all day, and that needs evidence nobody has gathered yet.
Social Security Disability
Disability Benefits for Heart Disease
Your cardiologist is asking whether your heart is stable. Social Security is asking how much work you can do. Those are not the same question.
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The one condition where the evidence is already a measurement.
Cardiac claims are unusual on this site because the key evidence often exists before anyone thinks about a disability claim. Exercise testing measures exertional tolerance directly. Imaging measures how well the heart is pumping. Monitoring records rhythm disturbances as they happen. Very little of this depends on anybody’s description.
That sounds like it should make these claims straightforward, and sometimes it does. The difficulty is the opposite of the one on most pages: where the numbers fall short of the criteria, examiners tend to stop reading, and the rest of the picture never gets considered.
A person can be medically stable, correctly treated, told by a cardiologist that things look good, and still be unable to hold down a job. Nothing about those statements is contradictory, and a cardiac claim usually has to explain why.
Conditions this covers
Coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, valve disease, congenital heart conditions, and claims following heart attack, bypass surgery or stent placement.
- Measured, not described Exercise testing and imaging do most of the talking.
- Events, not just capacity Arrhythmias and angina happen between good test results.
- Recovery takes longer than treatment Especially after surgery, and files often close too early.
- Restrictions that end jobs Lifting limits and heat exposure rule out whole trades.
Being stable and being employable
This is the argument at the center of most refused cardiac claims, and it is worth setting out plainly.
A cardiologist’s job is to keep your heart from killing you. When they say you are doing well, they mean the disease is controlled and the treatment is working. It is a genuine and important finding, and it says nothing at all about whether you can sustain eight hours of work.
Social Security is asking a different question, and the answer depends on things that are rarely in a cardiology note: how you feel by the middle of the afternoon, whether stairs are the end of your morning, how often angina interrupts what you are doing, what happens when the weather is hot, and whether the medication leaves you clear-headed enough to be useful.
Where these claims are actually lost
Not on the diagnosis, which is undisputed. On the assumption that somebody who cannot do heavy work can do light work, made without ever asking whether they can sustain light work all day, five days a week, alongside the fatigue that heart failure produces.
And on timing
Cardiac function after a major event or surgery is not fixed. Claims filed and decided during a period of recovery frequently miss the point at which it became clear how much function had returned, which is often many months later. Where a claim was refused early, that is worth revisiting rather than accepting.
Why cardiac claims get refused
Four patterns that come up repeatedly, and what answers each of them.
The test was a good day
Exercise testing is done rested, supervised and at a fixed time. It measures capacity under ideal conditions, not capacity repeated daily alongside everything else a working life demands.
The file stops at discharge
Records run from the event through the procedure and then thin out. What the following year looked like is usually the part that decides the claim, and it is often missing.
Sedentary work is assumed
The standard refusal. It treats cardiac limitation as though it were purely about lifting, and ignores fatigue, breathlessness on minimal effort, and the events that happen while sitting down.
Questions
Heart disease disability questions
General information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. The only way to know where yours stands is to have someone look at it.
My cardiologist says I am doing well.
That is good news and it does not defeat the claim. Doing well means the condition is controlled. It is not a statement about whether you can work a full week, and cardiologists are not usually asked that question. Getting an opinion that addresses function specifically is one of the first things we do.
I had a stent and felt better afterwards.
Many people do, which is why claims filed shortly after a procedure are often refused. The question is what the position looks like once the improvement has settled, and whether symptoms returned. If a claim was refused during that early period, the later record can support a fresh application.
My symptoms come and go.
Then the pattern is the evidence. Arrhythmias, angina episodes and periods of decompensation are episodic by nature, and a claim built only on how you are between them describes the wrong thing. Monitoring records, emergency attendances and hospital admissions all document the episodes.
I also have diabetes and a bad back.
That usually strengthens a claim rather than complicating it. Conditions are assessed together, and the combined effect is frequently greater than any one of them alone. Cardiac limitation plus a musculoskeletal restriction can close off the light work that would otherwise have been assumed.
Is a defibrillator or pacemaker enough on its own?
Not automatically. The device is treatment, and how much it restores function varies a great deal. What matters is what you can do with it in place, including any restrictions that come with it and the effect of any shocks you have had.
What we charge
Our fees are set by federal statute, are contingency only, and are the lesser of 25% not to exceed the statutory maximum of $9,200.
There is nothing to pay up front and nothing to pay if the claim does not succeed. The fee comes out of past-due benefits when they are awarded, and it has to be approved.
If your condition is not one of these
The conditions we have written about are the ones we are asked about most often. They are not the only ones that qualify, and the list is not a test you have to appear on.
A disability claim is decided on what your conditions do to your ability to work, not on the name of the diagnosis. Several problems that are each manageable on their own can add up to something that is not, and that combination is frequently the strongest part of a claim.
If what you have is not on this site, that tells you nothing about your claim. Tell us what you have been diagnosed with and what it stops you doing, and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth pursuing.
Other Social Security Disability pages
The rest of this practice area, in case your situation fits one of them better.
All Social Security Disability
SSDI denials, appeals and hearings.
Initial Applications
We prepare and file the whole claim. Most clients start here.
SSDI vs SSI
Two different programs, two different sets of rules.
Disability Appeals
What to do when the claim comes back denied.
Disability Hearings
The hearing in front of the judge, and how we prepare you for it.
SSI Children's Cases
Benefits for a child whose disability affects how they function.
SSD Widow's Benefits
Drawing on a late spouse's record, from 60, or from 50 if disabled.
Back Injuries & Spine Conditions
Qualifying with a spine condition, where function decides it.
Neck Injuries & Conditions
Cervical claims turn on the hands and arms, not the back.
Cancer
Some diagnoses qualify outright. Others turn on what treatment left behind.
COPD & Respiratory Conditions
Breathing test values, and the day the test was taken.
Depression & Anxiety Disorders
Assessed on functioning across a working week, not on a diagnosis.
PTSD
Reactivity and avoidance, and why the workplace itself is the barrier.
Multiple Sclerosis
A fluctuating illness, assessed on a single day. Closing that gap.
Stroke
What is left when recovery stops, and when to make the claim.
Bipolar Disorder
The cycle decides it. Well periods are read as capacity.
Arthritis
Which joints. Ones you stand on and ones you work with.
Amputations
The prosthesis, not the amputation, is what gets argued about.
The three areas we handle
One incident can open more than one claim, and they are handled together here.
Client Reviews
What our clients say
I had been denied two times for social security after life changing damages to my back, ankle and knee, had paid into social security all my life and I'm 60 years old now. Steven Casper was compassionate and thorough and walked me through the process without any money to pay him he was able to get my social security approved and every dime of back pay for those two years I had waited and has assured me that if anything comes up he's there for me.
Maggie Still
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After I spent two years in a frustrating battle with the SSA, I finally contacted Casper, Casper, & Casper, and Robin took my disability case. In about six months, Robin had won my case, along with back pay. The whole process of working with this firm was pleasant and painless. The staff was quick to respond to my many questions and also to update my changing medical information.
Kevin Weinand
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If you have been denied disability benefits, I would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND this lawyers office!! Robin Partin and associates worked diligently on my case and fought for me! They were my voice and I won! 10/10
Janna Anderson
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I really cannot say enough about my attorney Steven Casper and his work ethic and professionalism. Also his legal assistant Ben, these two did a lot of prep work and fielding my many emails and answering my questions. Steven Casper prepped me personally for my appeal and court with an administrative law judge. This process is very slow dealing with Social Security but he kept me informed every step of the way with great detail and it played out exactly as he had described.
Michael Seagraves
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I can't thank Casper, Casper and Casper enough for what they did for me. From start to finish it took less than a year for them to help me get disability benefits. They did almost all of the groundwork and made it as painless for me as possible. I would highly recommend them to anyone.
Chester Thomas
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If I could give a MILLION PLUS stars I DEFINITELY would!! I contacted Mr. Steve Casper to handle my SSI case. I filed at first on my own and I was denied. He was VERY professional, honest and upfront about the clients he takes. He reassured me that I DID have a strong case. I got the news today that HE won my case for me!!!!
Kelly Bilbrey
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