From the "Tip of the Iceberg" Files

[101N]

Designed to put people back on their feet? Would be interesting to know the data on how many actually go off the program once admitted to it.

Central Oregon real estate man punished for cheating Social Security of disability pay
Published: Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 5:57 PM Updated: Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 6:07 PM

By Bryan Denson, The Oregonian

For 17 years, the Social Security Administration sent disability payments to a Bend real estate man who worked long hours, played golf, fished, hunted and once boasted of a 6,488-mile cross-country trip by motorcycle.

On Tuesday, 55-year-old Richard Todd Rawlins stood before a federal judge in Portland to be punished for theft of government funds.

Rawlins began collecting government checks after a 1988 plane crash left him with severe burns over 70 percent of his body. But he returned to real estate work, claiming in a 1998 home refinance that he earned $12,300 per month, according to bank papers obtained by federal agents.

Investigators discovered that he had renewed his pilot's license (after passing extensive medical exams) and got hunting and fishing licenses.

Still Rawlins accepted disability payments.

Then in 2010, Social Security personnel reviewed his eligibility. Rawlins failed to disclose the money he earned in real estate and as property manager at Cascade Meadow Ranch in Sisters, and he didn't report the ranch earnings on his federal tax returns, according to a government sentencing memorandum.

A prosecutor urged U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones to send Rawlins to prison, while his defense lawyer asked for probation.

Jones split the difference. He sentenced Rawlins to six months of home confinement, five years of probation and ordered him to serve 100 hours of community service. Jones also ordered him to repay $176,607 in fraudulently obtained benefits.

Social Security's disability programs are designed to put people back on their feet, said Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen L. Cooper. But Rawlins took advantage, she said.

"He used his physical disfigurement basically to fool Social Security into paying him benefits much, much longer than he was entitled," Cooper said.

-- Bryan Denson

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[ghost dog]

Designed to put people back on their feet? Would be interesting to know the data on how many actually go off the program once admitted to it.

Central Oregon real estate man punished for cheating Social Security of disability pay
Published: Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 5:57 PM Updated: Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 6:07 PM

By Bryan Denson, The Oregonian

For 17 years, the Social Security Administration sent disability payments to a Bend real estate man who worked long hours, played golf, fished, hunted and once boasted of a 6,488-mile cross-country trip by motorcycle.

On Tuesday, 55-year-old Richard Todd Rawlins stood before a federal judge in Portland to be punished for theft of government funds.

Rawlins began collecting government checks after a 1988 plane crash left him with severe burns over 70 percent of his body. But he returned to real estate work, claiming in a 1998 home refinance that he earned $12,300 per month, according to bank papers obtained by federal agents.

Investigators discovered that he had renewed his pilot's license (after passing extensive medical exams) and got hunting and fishing licenses.

Still Rawlins accepted disability payments.

Then in 2010, Social Security personnel reviewed his eligibility. Rawlins failed to disclose the money he earned in real estate and as property manager at Cascade Meadow Ranch in Sisters, and he didn't report the ranch earnings on his federal tax returns, according to a government sentencing memorandum.

A prosecutor urged U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones to send Rawlins to prison, while his defense lawyer asked for probation.

Jones split the difference. He sentenced Rawlins to six months of home confinement, five years of probation and ordered him to serve 100 hours of community service. Jones also ordered him to repay $176,607 in fraudulently obtained benefits.

Social Security's disability programs are designed to put people back on their feet, said Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen L. Cooper. But Rawlins took advantage, she said.

"He used his physical disfigurement basically to fool Social Security into paying him benefits much, much longer than he was entitled," Cooper said.

-- Bryan Denson

This sort of issue makes an excellent argument for properly conducted disability assessments.

However:

1. Is the evaluating body willing to pay for such assessments ? ( yeah right).

2. Once a person is deemed disabled, this is not a static phenomenon. I strongly suspect that the state stamps a person "disabled for life", and never reassesses them - ever.

I could be wrong about this. This is how socialized disability evals go in Canada. Completely ridiculous, but leave it up to the bureaucrats and this is what you get.

 

[101N]

This sort of issue makes an excellent argument for properly conducted disability assessments.

However:

1. Is the evaluating body willing to pay for such assessments ? ( yeah right).

2. Once a person is deemed disabled, this is not a static phenomenon. I strongly suspect that the state stamps a person "disabled for life", and never reassesses them - ever.

I could be wrong about this. This is how socialized disability evals go in Canada. Completely ridiculous, but leave it up to the bureaucrats and this is what you get.

God walks across a lake to a boat within which are 3 disabled fishman: a bilateral BKA, a blind man, and guy with chronic back problems. God says to the fishmen: "Fella's you are in luck. I'm in a curing mood today. He touches the BKA guy and says: "You are healed!" the guy's legs grow back and he says: "Thank you Lord!" and hops overboard and swims to shore. God then says to the blind man: "See!" And, Boom! The blind guy can see. He says: "Thank you Lord!" And also hops overboard and swims to shore. God then approaches the back pain guy, but right as HE is about to open his mouth the lumbago patient says: "Don't touch me! I'm on disability!"

 

[PMR2008]

LOL. Love it!!!

 

[Tenesma]

i believe for SSDI you have to demonstrate disability that will last >12 months... it is very uncommon for them to re-review disability - probably because statistically it is very unlikely that somebody who has been non-productive >1 year will all of a sudden become a productive citizen... it sounds like the only reason this guy got caught was because of tax related issues...

 

[oreosandsake]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-work-continue-claiming-jobless-benefits.html
Unemployed man cuts off foot to continue claiming jobless benefits – only to discover he is still eligible for work

• The 56-year-old put his hacked off foot in oven so medics could not reattach it
  

By Tom Gardner
PUBLISHED: 10:15 EST, 27 March 2012 | UPDATED: 10:40 EST, 27 March 2012

• Comments (31)
• Share

A scrounger who almost died after cutting his own foot off so he could stay on jobless benefits has been told he might still qualify for work despite his amputation.
Long term unemployed Hans Url, 56, had just been told his hand-outs would stop if he did not accept work found for him by job centre staff.
And when his claims that he was too sick and did not like the work were challenged with the offer of a medical, he took drastic measures.

Hacked off: Hans Url rigged up his power tool so he could slice off how own foot in order to avoid work

Url, of Mitterlabill, southern Austria, rigged up a mitre saw and sliced off his foot – then put it in the oven for good measure to ensure no surgeon could reattach it.
But job centre staff have delivered a blow to hapless Url's plan by saying his new disability does not rule him out for work.



More...

• Work - or lose your handouts: Jobless will have to pick up litter to earn benefit
• Feral youths: How a generation of violent, illiterate young men are living outside the boundaries of civilised society

Police spokesman Franz Fasching said: ‘The planning was meticulous.
‘He waited until his wife and his adult son had left the house and he was alone.
‘He then switched it on and sliced off his left foot above the ankle - throwing it in the fire so it would not be possible to reattach it before he called emergency services.
‘He then made his way to the garage where he called emergency services and waited for them to arrive.

Desperate: Url then threw his foot into this oven to make sure surgeons could not reattach it

The police added that the man had almost died from loss of blood before the emergency services arrived and that they had recovered the foot from the oven - but that it had been too badly burned to reattach.
He was airlifted to hospital in Graz where his condition was said to be stable after emergency surgery to seal the wound.
A hospital spokesman said: ‘The foot was too badly burned to reattach. All we could do was seal the wound. He had lost a lot of blood - he almost died on the way to hospital. He was put in an artificial coma.’
The police spokesman Fasching added that they were investigating the case as an attempted suicide.
But Feldbach AMS job centre spokesman Hermann Gössinger said: ‘This is a tragic case but it will not help the man.
‘His latest excuse had been a bad back which is why he had been sent for a medical.

'But even now losing a foot does not automatically mean he will not be able to work.

 

[painstop]

I love the pile of cigarrettes and ashtray on top of the oven...can this be placed in the dictionary as a definition of a SLUG

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

I think every case should be reviewed every 5 years. 10 years at a minimum.

There are people on disability who have never worked a day in their life. My old office manager's nephew was labelled ADHD in school, so his parents got SSI for him. After high school, he continued on SSI, got a government-subsidized apt for $1/mo, food stamps, owned a car and a motorcycle, and still had enough money to smoke pot every day.

 

[Tenesma]

I have seen so many 20somethings on SSI without any clear disability - they can't even remember why they are on disability to begin with...

there was a great case in Rhode Island of a FireFighter who got a disability pension (80% of annual salary w/ benefits - non-taxable for life) after a shoulder injury - who was video-taped in the gym lifting some very heavy weights --- they tried to take him to court to rescind his disability, but the doctors still certified him disabled... we are to blame just as much as the pt is.

 

[pjuer]

I have seen so many 20somethings on SSI without any clear disability - they can't even remember why they are on disability to begin with...

there was a great case in Rhode Island of a FireFighter who got a disability pension (80% of annual salary w/ benefits - non-taxable for life) after a shoulder injury - who was video-taped in the gym lifting some very heavy weights --- they tried to take him to court to rescind his disability, but the doctors still certified him disabled... we are to blame just as much as the pt is.

We have a local firefighter whose son went to grade school and high school with my son. He received disability for panic attacks in 2000, age 50 after going into a burning building that killed several college students. (80% salary and benefits) Lifts weights and goes fishing every day

 

[Tenesma]

i got you beat: I had a firefighter who on his FIRST (at age 23) day decided to slide down the pole without using his hands - landed and broke one ankle, sprained the other ankle --- he was declared permanently disabled and could not return to fire-fighting... which pays 80% of salary, with compounded COLA, full health benefits for him and his family for life - tax-free... the COLA was set at 5% (!!!) - he is now 42, making $58k/yr tax-free from his disability pension (having only worked really 1/2 day), and works as a financial advisor (!)... he came to me because of back pain... he had some DDD (real bad at L5/S1), I asked him what aggravates it: his answer "when I run"... really, how much running do you do? "3-4 miles during the week, 5-7 miles on the weekend"... my jaw dropped to the ground... he can run more than I can, but can't work as a firefighter? and gets paid (by my tax dollars) not to work as a firefighter...

it gets even better - in the adjoining state, the firefighter unions got the following conditions approved for disability pensions: hematologic cancers (even if they can't prove they got the lymphoma from being exposed to fires - not to mention that firefighters don't have real higher risk for lymphoma), HTN, anxiety... hypertension!!!

wtf

 

[SSdoc33]

i got you beat: I had a firefighter who on his FIRST (at age 23) day decided to slide down the pole without using his hands - landed and broke one ankle, sprained the other ankle --- he was declared permanently disabled and could not return to fire-fighting... which pays 80% of salary, with compounded COLA, full health benefits for him and his family for life - tax-free... the COLA was set at 5% (!!!) - he is now 42, making $58k/yr tax-free from his disability pension (having only worked really 1/2 day), and works as a financial advisor (!)... he came to me because of back pain... he had some DDD (real bad at L5/S1), I asked him what aggravates it: his answer "when I run"... really, how much running do you do? "3-4 miles during the week, 5-7 miles on the weekend"... my jaw dropped to the ground... he can run more than I can, but can't work as a firefighter? and gets paid (by my tax dollars) not to work as a firefighter...

it gets even better - in the adjoining state, the firefighter unions got the following conditions approved for disability pensions: hematologic cancers (even if they can't prove they got the lymphoma from being exposed to fires - not to mention that firefighters don't have real higher risk for lymphoma), HTN, anxiety... hypertension!!!

wtf

FU unions.

 

[SSdoc33]

We have a local firefighter whose son went to grade school and high school with my son. He received disability for panic attacks in 2000, age 50 after going into a burning building that killed several college students. (80% salary and benefits) Lifts weights and goes fishing every day

at least he was 50. he was probably gonna retire on a pension in a couple years anyway with similar benefits. there are a lot of police/firefighter/municipal workers out there with little schooling that start when they are 20, work for 20-25 years, then retire with ridiculous benefits.

 

[bedrock]

at least he was 50. he was probably gonna retire on a pension in a couple years anyway with similar benefits. there are a lot of police/firefighter/municipal workers out there with little schooling that start when they are 20, work for 20-25 years, then retire with ridiculous benefits.

Not exactly. There are a lot of police/firefighter/municipal workers in their 50s who try to retire on disability because they get paid 80% of their salary for life, because if they retire on their regular pension, they only get 40-50% of their salary for life, so retiring on disability doubles their pension and if they do it young enough they really enjoy themselves on that 80% or some of them just take the 80% and work another job on the side for 10 years before they "really" retire.

I'm saw this all the time during my residency in Boston. The word is out about the finances of city/state worker disability and I saw quite a few cops/fireman, etc trying to get disability for those reasons. I lost a lot of respect for these "public servants" after seeing all that.

 

[101N]

Not exactly. There are a lot of police/firefighter/municipal workers in their 50s who try to retire on disability because they get paid 80% of their salary for life, because if they retire on their regular pension, they only get 40-50% of their salary for life, so retiring on disability doubles their pension and if they do it young enough they really enjoy themselves on that 80% or some of them just take the 80% and work another job on the side for 10 years before they "really" retire.

I'm saw this all the time during my residency in Boston. The word is out about the finances of city/state worker disability and I saw quite a few cops/fireman, etc trying to get disability for those reasons. I lost a lot of respect for these "public servants" after seeing all that.

These are the guys that are bankrupting Compton and Vallejo, CA. Such a noble career, heh.

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

I do the disability reviews for our city's police. I have about a dozen ex-officers I see very year to renew their disability. Several are back injuries - from chasing people or fighting with them. One is CRPS. One is a torn labrum that could not be successfully repaired. They get full salary with COL. Many now work other jobs. They are simply disabled from being police. Their contract works that way.

The worst is a lady who took about a dozen GSWs while sitting in her squad car doing paperwork - someone walked up and unloaded a .38 clip into her. She lived and the only thing really keeping her from working is the damaged elbow on her non-dominant arm. She could not grapple with someone well enough to subdue them.

One year I asked her, if her elbow was normal, would she go back to being a cop? She said no. I asked why, and she said she would likely just kill the next person who threatened her. She'd just draw her firearm and blast away, rather than chance getting shot again. She said this with a smile.

What I think about when determining if they are disabled or not is "Would I want this officer protecting me?"

 

[Tenesma]

your scenarios highlight common sense but does not represent the vast majority of cases I see...

bottom line, cops are humans and they will make human decisions about opting for disability pay/no work... and yes, their contracts are worded this way, and personally I think those contracts are non-sensical.

If you are a police officer in New Orleans, Miami, LA, NYC then yes, you should be taken care of nicely for your service... If you are a police officer in a small rural community where the biggest news of the year is the drunk that you had to bring back to the hospital to sober up, then no special sweet deals... sorry...

Our marines/special forces take FAR more risk, have a FAR higher risk of disability or death, and do they get disability pensions like these??? no way.... I have some retired police who are on disability making >100k/year tax free...i don't know of any soldires getting those benefits.

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

I have some retired police who are on disability making >100k/year tax free...i don't know of any soldires getting those benefits.

Police have unions. Soldiers don't.

Need we say more?