A-One of the primary principles of evidence in a Social Security Disability case is how the judge classifies the treating physician's written testimony.
In a recent case decided in 2019, the judge gave very little weight to the treating physician' testimony. In doing so, the judge was unable to give legally sufficient reasons for rejecting this evidence.
The rules called “credit as true” and as applied here means if the treating physician's opinion was credited as true, the judge would be required to find the applicant disabled based on the vocational expert's testimony that there would be no work for someone with the limitations the doctor stated. This is another example of the need for strong treating physician testimony to win a case for someone seeking Social Security Disability benefits.