Forward!

Phantom, when I do get around to doing disability forms after a year or so of them sitting on my desk, I just put in medical diagnoses. I used to get "helpful" letters written by "disability advocates" in which they made a simple case of depression a "severe" condition which precluded the patient ever working again in their life. They made a point of telling me I could make an easy $150 by just signing my name to the bottom of the "helpful" letter they'd written for me. In BC, the long boring disability form pays a total of $250 of which $100 can be claimed by just about anyone for filling out half of the form. The "disability advocates" must be steering patients away from me as the medical facts are at total variance with the claims made by the "disability advocate".

I do disability forms for paraplegics, people with major brain injuries and people who have severe illnesses. Also, I have a number of patients who have worked quite hard at physical jobs their whole life and basically wore their joints out -- they are legitimately disabled. For the lazy, drug addicts and dysfunctional, I don't do disability forms. Usually after the forms been sitting on my desk for a year, patients get the idea and find a physician who's more receptive to their non-medical problems. I haven't had any complaints to the College of Physicians yet, but if I do, I'll point out that part of my mandate is to be prudent in the spending of medical funds and medical funds are to be used to treat real diseases, not self-inflicted ones or social issues. A lot of the whiners who try to claim disability in the interior where jobs are plentiful end up moving to Vancouver where doctors aren't as hard nosed about phony disability claims.

What has never ceased to amaze me is how patients who claim to be so lacking in energy that they are simply unable to perform any work suddenly find seemingly endless supplies of energy when it comes to achieving the highly sought after "disabled" status. I'm sure that a lot of doctors simply sign the forms to get these patients that won't stop ranting out of their exam rooms.

Loki;
Disability is no longer required. My mother-in-law fell breaking her leg and arm. She is a old farm girl who has the 'work for your keep' attitude. I am sure that if she could she would do dishes in the rehab center she is now living at.

To my point. My mother-in-law has observed a +/- 50 year old woman who attends the rehab center as an 'adopted daughter' of a very senior gentleman. Eating meals at this site requires buying a chit by the visiting relatives. However, snacks are free. Apparently this is what the 'daughter' does. She is constantly raiding the snack refrigerator and seems to be eating all her meals there. No staff are calling her on this practice.

Life is good in the nanny state.