Burns – Overview
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Burns are wounds to the skin caused by fire, chemicals, radiation, electricity, hot objects, hot fluids, or the sun, among other things. While the majority of burns are relatively minor medical conditions, severe burns can be severely debilitating or even fatal.
Burns can cause modest skin irritation and redness all the way up to highly painful skin lesions, blistering, and scarring. Treatment is determined by the type, location, and degree of the infection. Aloe vera or similar anesthetic creams or gels can be used to treat a variety of tiny or minor burns. Burns that are more severe should be treated by a medical practitioner.
Medical assistance should be sought if the burn is second degree or worse; or if the burn covers a considerable section of the body, particularly the feet, hands, face, joints, buttocks, or genital area. In most situations, second degree burns have a moist or wet appearance on the skin. Generally, the damaged area will be red and swollen, and the individual who has been burned will experience some residual pain. In the majority of cases, blisters develop, eventually resulting in scarring.
The skin will be red in more severe (third and fourth degree) burns or, in the worst-case scenario, blackened and charred. Frequently, the surrounding area can develop a waxy, tan appearance. Numbness is a common symptom. Since a result, if you have been burned and are not in agony, you should seek medical assistance immediately, as you may have sustained a severe burn.
Additionally, burns require medical attention if they are accompanied by illness, exhaustion, a high fever, increased pain or swelling, or any effect on breathing or the airway, particularly if the burn occurred as a result of inhaling smoke.
Severe burns might render the victim completely incapable of performing daily functions. What a burn prevents you from doing is very dependent on the area of the body damaged. Some individuals discover that they are unable to accomplish meaningful work for an extended period of time following a burn. If this describes you, you should consider applying for Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income.
How to Apply for Disability Benefits if You Have a Burns Diagnosis
Burns are typically classified as skin illnesses for disability purposes. Sections 8.00 and 8.08 of the Social Security Administration’s Listing of Impairments Manual contain significant information on qualifying for disability benefits with burns (the Blue Book). Burns may also be considered in some circumstances based on the bodily parts affected, particularly if they result in blindness, loss of ambulation (ability to move from one location to another), or loss of use of major limbs or joints.
In general, you must be able to demonstrate two things to the Social Security Administration in order to prove that you qualify for Social Security Disability benefits if you have burns. These include the following:
That the sores on your skin created by your burns prevent you from performing significant work.
The effect the burns left on your skin or other bodily parts and functions that prevent you from working would likely persist longer than twelve months.
When filing, be sure to include a copy of your doctor’s assessment of your burns. This should go beyond a medical explanation of the burns and include a detailed list of the activities that your burns prevent you from performing. Additionally, it should detail all therapies you have received and your body’s response to them. It should undoubtedly include your doctor’s estimate that the burns will be severe enough to keep you off of meaningful work for at least one year.
Are Burns Considered To Be A Disabling Condition?
If you have sustained burns, you may be unable to work and support yourself. While burns may not automatically qualify you for Social Security Disability (SSA) benefits, there are two separate listings under which an individual who is unable to work due to severe burns may be able to have his or her claim granted.
Although obtaining disability compensation for burns is complicated and needs extensive medical documents, it is not impossible. You must give specific medical records establishing the kind and extent of your burns, as well as how the burns have impacted your physiological function and capacity to work. To ensure that your disability claim is processed properly, you must complete the claim form completely and precisely, as well as provide all necessary supporting documentation and evidence.
Approval of a claim can take months and involves multiple procedures, and the majority of denials are due to a lack of supporting paperwork. You’ll want to ensure that all of your medical documents are in order so that you can demonstrate the extent of your injury and the extent to which it has prevented you from working and earning a living. Bear in mind that paperwork is critical to your disability claim’s success.
Medically Disabled With Burns
There are two distinct listings for determining if a burn qualifies for disability payments. One of the listings pertains to injuries that require surgical management, while the other pertains to injuries that do not require surgical management. Each listing has very stringent requirements.
Listing 1.08 is applicable to burns to the lower or upper extremities, the face, the trunk, or the head that require surgical care. If your burn was severe enough to require surgery to repair or restore a significant bodily function, you may be eligible for disability benefits under this classification.
The burn must be looked over by a physician and they have to state that it will take 12 months or more to heal, and you must provide supporting medical documentation, which may include medical records describing how a surgeon is currently working to restore functionality to the burned area, an estimate from your physician regarding when functionality will be restored to the burned area, and medical records demonstrating that you do not have functionality in the burned area.
Listing 8.08 is applicable to non-surgical burns. You must establish that your burn injuries resulted in the impairment of a significant bodily function or in the development of debilitating skin lesions that your physician feels will persist longer than a year. To be eligible for this listing, you must provide documentation establishing your treatment history, the side effects of your treatments, the extent of your skin lesions, and details about flares, symptoms caused by the burns or skin lesions, your treatment history, and the extent to which the burns limit your functionality.
If you do not match the listing’s precise criteria, you may still be eligible for disability compensation through a medical vocational allowance. This takes into account your burns, any underlying medical issues, your constraints and limitations, as well as your age, job history, transferrable skills, and educational background. A residual functional capacity (RFC) form completed by your treating physician can be used to establish your disability by precisely describing your restrictions and limitations. An RFC will explain how long you can stand, how far you can walk, if you can lift, how well you can squat and bend, and how far you can reach, among other things.
Your Disability Case in Burns
By no means are burns an automatic qualification for disability payments. To assess whether your condition is severe enough to warrant Social Security Disability payments, the SSA considers the totality of your symptoms, including discomfort. Unfortunately, things like pain are tough to quantify, and much of the decision about whether or not to grant you benefits is based on SSA adjudicators’ judgment.
Disability claims are refused in more than two-thirds of the time. As a result, claimants are forced to choose between withdrawing their claim or going through a lengthy (and frequently futile) appeals procedure. Pursuing the help of a respected Social Security Disability attorney or advocate is the best approach to increase your chances of having your claim or appeal approved.
A disability attorney’s evaluation of your claim is free, and your disability lawyer will not charge you anything until your disability benefits are approved. Attorneys for Social Security Disability receive a portion (never more than 25%) of the back wages to which you are entitled. Because the SSA usually pays them directly, you won’t have to worry about paying your lawyer out of your continued benefits. You can click here to take a free evaluation to have a Social Security Disability attorney and advocate analyze your case right now.