When Does Bladder Cancer Qualify for Compassionate Allowance?

When Does Bladder Cancer Qualify for Compassionate Allowance?

Have you recently been diagnosed with bladder cancer and you’re wondering whether you may qualify for Social Security disability benefits?

My name is Kaitlin Wildoner and I’m an attorney who helps disabled clients obtain their disability benefits as quickly as possible so they can focus on getting better. 

In this video, we’re going to discuss when bladder cancer may qualify for Social Security disability benefits through the compassionate allowance program. Bladder cancer is a disease in which malignant cells form in the tissues of the bladder. Most bladder cancers are transitional cell carcinomas, but other types include squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. The cells that form carcinoma develop in the inner lining of the bladder, potentially as a result of chronic irritation or inflammation. Cancer that begins in the transitional cells has the potential to spread through the lining of the bladder and invade the muscle wall of the bladder or spread to nearby organs and lymph nodes. 

Social Security will evaluate compassionate allowance bladder cancer cases under either listing 13.22C or 13.22D. Bladder cancer that is inoperable and unresectable will meet listing 13.22C. Bladder cancer with metastases to or beyond the regional lymph nodes will meet the criteria in 13.22D.

Inoperable means that a physician has opined that surgery would not be beneficial for you based on a review of your imaging studies, lab results, and physical exam findings. Unresectable cancer is established when the operative report indicates that the cancer is not completely removed or the pathology report notes that the surgical specimen has positive margins.

Social Security will typically review the following medical evidence in cases that involve a bladder cancer diagnosis: a pathology report and an operative report that might say that the tumor is either inoperable and or unresectable. They will also look at the clinical history and the examinations that describe the diagnostic features of the condition. In the absence of those types of medical records, the Social Security adjudicator may use a physician’s opinion that indicates that the cancer is inoperable or unresectable based on certain described objective findings.

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