Disability Law Show: Alberta & BC – S1 E24

Episode Summary

What terminology is needed from doctors to lead to an LTD approval? Disability lawyers Sivan Tumarkin and Martin Willemse at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, answer this question and more on the Disability Law Show on 980 CKNW in Vancouver, 770 CHQR in Calgary and 630 CHED in Edmonton.

Listen below to discover important information about your rights and a guide through the proper steps to take when your insurance provider cuts off your long-term disability or denies your insurance claim.

Whether you need a BC disability lawyer or disability lawyers in Alberta, Sivan and his team can get you the advice you need, and the compensation you deserve.

Listen to the Episode

Show Notes

• Workplace injury leads to severe medical conditions and disability: In most workplace injuries, the insurance company receives a deduction or credit when workplace compensation is involved. In some cases, despite approval for LTD, a claimant receives enough compensation from Worker’s Compensation and so does not receive any LTD benefits. Insurance companies that decide to cut off benefits can face potential punitive damages for acting in bad faith.
• Long-Covid language for doctors to use to help with LTD approval: Diagnosis can be important in receiving disability benefits however, ultimately, the most important elements are a claimant’s restrictions and limitations. In writing reports for a claimant to receive long-term disability benefits, doctors should detail the impact of a potential diagnosis on a patient’s inability to work in their occupation. Details regarding symptoms should be specific regardless of a diagnosis.
• Provide the insurance company with an independent medical assessment: Claimants who have their own doctors and receive an initial denial, sometimes believe they need to hire a new doctor in order to bolster their chances of receiving approval in the form of a second opinion. Independent medical assessments can cost claimants substantially and are not needed as long as a treating doctor supports an inability to work.
• Nurse says claimant is ready for work but later fired while the claimant is denied LTD: Claimants should shy away from appealing a long-term disability denial as the appeals process is rarely successful and often wastes time. Instead, claimants should speak to a disability lawyer and begin the legal process of filing a claim. It is important for the insurance company to also have all up-to-date medical information, including a differing opinion from a treating doctor.
• Change of definition date and pressure to return to work: At the two-year mark, many claimants are asked to attend an independent medical assessment or a skills analysis to determine whether or not a return to work in another occupation is possible. The test in order to qualify for LTD after two years changes from an inability to work in a claimant’s own occupation, to any occupation. Claimants should immediately seek out the advice of a disability lawyer as soon as pressure to return to work and end benefits is implied.