Success With Disability Claims for Teachers

Success with Long-Term Disability Claims for Teachers

Bartolic Law has helped many Teachers with long-term disability benefit claims. We have helped Teachers with the benefits under their group long-term disability insurance policies, as well as under the Teachers Retirement System Disability Pension. In a recent case, our client was a Chicago Public Schools Teacher who stopped working after an injury resulting in a concussion and post-concussive syndrome, which aggravated the client’s long-standing Multiple Sclerosis and spinal disorders.

The insurer initially denied the claim, and we were able to persuade the insurer the client was disabled from the client’s occupation as a Teacher due to the significant standing and walking required. The insurer then terminated benefits at the transition to “any occupation” disability, contending our client could perform sedentary work. It relied on medical consultants who opined there was no evidence of any neurological deficits to support any restrictions from Multiple Sclerosis, no impact on Activities of Daily Living, and no evidence of medication side effects. We both had the client examined by an Independent Medical Examiner of our own and ran text recognition on the insurer’s entire file, so we could document the precise pages of the insurer’s file that documented the evidence its own medical consultants disclaimed existing, like where the file mentioned difficulty with Activities of Daily Living, balance problems, and drowsiness/sedation from medications. After we showed the insurer its doctors had no basis to support their opinions, the insurer reinstated benefits. As a result, our client is able to live in medical retirement with dignity and financial security.