Heart Disease and Disability

Whether you have had a heart attack, coronary artery disease, arteriosclerosis, or congestive heart failure, or any other form of heart disease, you can apply for disability benefits. Whether you will win your claim depends on several factors.

The first is whether or not your condition is included in the list of impairments. If it is, then you should be approved for disability benefits. If your condition does not meet a listing, the person deciding your case will need to see medical evidence that shows why your condition is so severe that you are unable to return to work. This could be reports from an angiogram, an echocardiogram, or an MRI report that shows damage to the heart; or records that show you have been hospitalized multiple times in a year for your heart condition. You will need to use your medical reports as proof that you are unable to return to work, or that it is unsafe for you to do so.

Thanks to modern medicine, a lot of heart disease conditions can be treated and the person is often able to make a very good recovery. You will have to present a case that you have been left with severe side effects due to your heart condition so that you are unable to work in your line of work (or adapt to another line of work) for a minimum of 12 months. If you are left with little or no damage to your heart after receiving treatment, then you will most likely be denied benefits.