Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a difficult and complex process. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Patrick Jurek was no exception. Unable to work after enduring multiple surgeries, he applied for SSDI and was denied twice. He shares his story here.
* This is a true story as told to Allsup.
The physical demands of his job finally took their toll. After a surgeon told him he could no longer work...
Phone Company Cable Splicer Finds True Help
Wadsworth, Texas—Patrick Jurek liked to splice. For 36 years, the Wadsworth resident worked as an outside repairman in Matagorda County, splicing overhead and underground multiple-conductor cables used in telephone communication transmission systems.
Day in and day out, the telephone technician went on find-and-fix missions, operating electrical test instruments to detect defective wire or fiber, digging holes and kneeling, stooping or crouching to make repairs. When not deep in earthen pits, Mr. Jurek climbed telephone poles, working on 28-foot telephone ladders.
It was a physically demanding career, and it ultimately took a heavy toll on his shoulders and knees.
“As I look back,” he recalled, “each time I took a step on those ladders, I was lifting 220 pounds—my own —plus another 70 pounds of tools. Then you sit, on your hooks, with all that pressure on your ankles and knees.”
In 1997, the wear and tear compromised his right shoulder, necessitating arthroscopic surgery. “I got to where I couldn’t splice the cable. I kept dropping the pliers.” A year later, the doctor opened the shoulder a second time to rebuild the rotator cuff. Although the pain was intense, the operation proved therapeutic. Mr. Jurek managed for a half decade.
Bad luck struck in 2003 when a vehicle swerved in front of Mr. Jurek’s truck. The resulting accident severely injured his left shoulder. Rotator cuff surgery followed again. In therapy twice a week, Mr. Jurek was out of work for five months and put on short-term disability.
Later, in 2006, while suspended 26 feet in the air repairing cable that a truck had torn down, Mr. Jurek felt his right shoulder give.
“My doctor said flat out he wouldn’t touch it,” he remembered. Referred to a hospital in Houston, a prominent orthopedic surgeon worked with a colleague for five hours rebuilding the rotator cuff. Five months later, following recuperation and recovery, the surgeon informed Mr. Jurek that his splicing days were over and advised him to apply for disability.
“I was 57 at the time,” he explained. “At my age, the company considered me non-retrainable because they knew I would retire at 62.” Mr. Jurek received his “gold watch” from the phone company in March 2007, well ahead of schedule.
Investigating his options, Mr. Jurek landed a job in pest management.
Tasked with hunting down the boll weevil—an unsightly beetle responsible for devastating Texas cotton yields—Mr. Jurek was in and out of a pickup 20 times a day, slogging through ditches. In 2006, a doctor had sounded the warning bell that his left knee would have to be replaced. On the trail of the boll weevil, his knee caved to the pressure—“It just plain wore out.”
Following knee replacement surgery, Mr. Jurek conceded his working days were over and applied for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.
Visiting the Social Security Administration (SSA) office, he brought his wife along, toting an exhaustive list of doctors visited, dates of surgeries and medical records, and hunkered down for three hours. As it turned out, his first application was the beginning of his long wait.
Like two-thirds all applicants at the initial level, Mr. Jurek’s SSDI claim was denied. Undaunted, he appealed the decision. After the second denial, the SSA sent him another letter. Inexplicably, the critical Houston surgeon’s report was missing from his medical records.
In a sickening pit-of-the-stomach moment, Mr. Jurek realized that crucial information had never made it into the system in the first place. “The computer had dropped key data. And once you put in info into the SSA system, that’s it. They will not go back in and correct.”
“Every time I heard from the SSA, it was negative, never positive,” Mr. Jurek vented. “You almost wish you hadn’t done it.”
In addition to 18 months wasted, there was growing financial hardship.
His former employer referred Mr. Jurek to Allsup, the nation’s leading SSDI representation company. Since 1984, Allsup has secured SSDI benefits for more than 120,000 deserving clients and obtained nearly $10.3 billion in Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Taking on his case on Aug. 11, 2008, Allsup advanced Mr. Jurek’s claim to a senior representative experienced in handling hundreds of similar claims.
In Mr. Jurek’s case, this meant speedily correcting the record and advocating for an on-the-record decision at level 3 to save him the strain of appearing before a judge.
“Allsup came in and everything got fixed,” Mr. Jurek said. “It was a no-brainer from then on.”
A favorable decision on Mr. Jurek’s case was made on Feb. 16, 2009. In addition to a lump-sum payment and regular monthly checks, Mr. Jurek, now 60, received a letter from the administrative law judge explaining why he’d been approved. Included was a copy of the pivotal correspondence from the Houston specialist.
“If you don’t give up hope, it’ll come through,” Mr. Jurek added, a smile in his voice. “Allsup was professional. They had the answers.”