COVID 19 Disability Claims
COVID 19 has upended all of our lives, while for many of us it has been an inconvenience for far too many it has been a horrible tragedy. While we all are painfully aware that COVID 19 has outright killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions around the world, less publicity has been given to the unfortunate percentage of people who have had longstanding fights with the virus or have suffered from permanent organ damage from their infections.
As of Mid-2021 over 34.5 million Americans have been infected by COVID 19. According to one of the Nation’s largest private disability insurers COVID 19 was the third leading cause of short term disability claims in 2020. COVID 19 was the leading cause of disability claims for industrial manufacturing workers.
How can COVID -19 Cause or Contribute to Disability?
COVID causes clots. COVID is an embolic disease meaning it produces clots in some victims. Clots from any cause in the body’s bloodstream can wreak havoc depending on where they lodge and if they dissolve rapidly or not. Heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, kidney damage, and failure have all been found in COVID -19 patients. Obviously, all of these problems can leave a patient with some level of permanent disability.
COVID forcing organ transplants. COVID in some individuals so severely damages an organ that their only hope is an organ transplant. There are special rules for disability claims based on organ transplants and we can help you understand what Social Security can offer you.
COVID attacks the lungs. Pulmonary rehabilitation in many areas is filling up with younger patients who survived COVID but now require their services because of pulmonary fibrosis. This condition permanently damages the lungs and can cause disability depending on the severity of the limitations.
COVID attacks the brain. In a research study in Great Britain, thousands of study participants had brain scans done prior to COVID existing. After hundreds of study participants had been infected they and hundreds of others in a control group were brought back for repeat brain scans. The COVID-infected individuals showed significant brain tissue destruction. A very common complaint of COVID patients is loss of smell. There is some belief that can be from the areas of the brain involved in smell being attacked by the virus. Some people who have survived COVID infection also have described various levels of memory and thinking problems.
Long haul COVID. There are many ways we are learning that COVID attacks the body, for many people they clear the infection as far as can be determined to date and are no worse off than had they gotten another virus that isn’t brand new to the human species. For others, problems persist or crop up at later dates. The most common complaints of long-haul sufferers are profound fatigue, foggy thinking, and shortness of breath. The full extent of how COVID may affect people will be unknown for years if not decades to come.
PTSD and anxiety because of COVID. Being intubated, not being able to breathe, being resuscitated, and innumerable other medical procedures can be highly traumatic. Losing loved ones suddenly to a disease without being able to go to the hospital bedside can be traumatic. Caring for incredibly sick people, many of whom die, and just keep coming into your hospital, or ambulance day after day with patient loads above what each nurse, doctor, respiratory therapist, paramedic, or another medical paraprofessional should be expected to handle is incredibly taxing and stressful. Sadly there will be thousands of claims for disability from anxiety or PTSD of COVID 19.
If COVID 19 has caused you long-term problems doing your work and other functions contact our firm right away for a personal consultation about Social Security Disability.