Help! My casemanager doesn't want to testify at my SSI hearing question!?

Question

I have bipolar and the doctor didn't diagnose me, my therapist did. I only worked with the casemanager for 5 months, but the one I had before that testified cuz she worked with me for 4 years before she quit. My lawyer wants the new casemanager to testify. She feels she doesn't know me well enuf to do it, but I told her to read my file some more and she said that's not good enuf. She said she'd have to be subpooena-ed. I'm afraid she'll mess up my chances of getting SSI. It's bad enuf I have different diagnoses from both my dr and therapist. The dr thinks I only have severe depression, narcisstic personality disorder, impulse control disorder, and some diagnosis that starts with an H about losing sense of reality...

Answer 1

Your case manager doesn't have to show up in court, unless subpoenaed. Social Security just wants proof you have a disability, which is reflected in your medical charts from all of the doctors and facilities you've visited. Social Security should have Release of Information consent forms for all the doctors and facilities you've visited.

Answer 2

Even if you delay for a few months, you are better off to walk in with full and complete documentation. You might do well to get a second opinion or further complete psychological evaluation and testing. Ask your psychiatrist or your lawyer.

Going in with full documentation initially is so much better than having to make appeals and coming up with new information later in your case.