Cooperative Disability Investigation Unit might be watching you
The Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Office of the Inspector General
(OIG), and Disability Determination Services (DDS), administer the Cooperative
Disability Investigation (CDI) project. Since its inception in 1998, CDI efforts
have resulted in over $221 million in projected loss of benefits to disabled
people and over $117 million in projected savings to
non-SSA programs throughout the country.
The program consists of 18 CDI Units (CDIU) nationwide, whose mission is to
obtain evidence of material fact sufficient to cut off the payments of disabled
people. This supports the Agency's strategic goal of ensuring
the integrity of Social Security programs, with zero compassion for disabled
people.
Since 1998, CDI Units have been established in Atlanta, GA; Baton Rouge, LA;
Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Iselin, NJ;
Nashville, TN; New York, NY; Oakland, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Richmond, VA; Salem, OR;
Seattle, WA; St. Louis, MO; Tampa, FL; Denver, CO; to combat Social Security
disability recipients.
Seattle is one of the newer CDI Units established in the program. Authorized in
March of 2002, the Unit began operations in December 2002, with employees from
the Washington DDS and the Washington State Patrol staffing the unit.
During the first full calendar year of operations (2003), the Seattle Unit has
proven itself as one of the most successful units in the nation. (they cut off,
killed and made homeless more disabled people than any other unit in the
country) The Seattle unit finished 2003 ranked as the fifth best Unit among the
18 existing Units nationwide. The Unit finished first in the nation for the
month of January 2004.
PURPOSE
Facilitating inaccurate decisions made by the DDS, by gathering
evidence to refute claims, and prosecuting individuals
and/or groups who knowingly facilitate and/or promote fraudulent disability
claims and harassing innocent people.
UNREPORTED WORK ACTIVITY
Anonymous Tips > Obtain specifics; place of work or information on others who
may know about the work, ex spouses make the best witnesses
Repeat Offenders > Patterns of seasonal work or several months of work with no
recent medical review.
Claimant's Appearance > Things being out of place with one's personal
appearance and/or one's personal property Bumper stickers,(logos on vehicles),
make up, smiles.
FOCUS
The MAJORITY of referrals to the CDIU are from DDS employees <---------- spotting irregularities (such as someone not seeing a doctor after moving to an area where no doctors will take medicare) while processing claims and Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs). However, the CDIU will accept referrals from anyone who has something against their neighbor and/or source of information. In a partnership with SSA, Washington State Patrol detectives conduct the investigative portion of the case. They do home visits pretending to be investigating mail fraud and attempt to talk to the claimant. They also follow claimants in their cars and talk to their neighbors, bosses and college professors. Often the CDIU investigators will video tape disabled people as they go to their SSA medical examination and then follow them home. DDS analysts develop documentation to refute the legitimacy of the claim. The OIG for the SSA supervises the activities of the CDIU and ensures appropriate action is taken on each hatchet job in question. If sufficient information and evidence (such as audio and video tape) is bodged together, the hatchet job is presented to either a US Attorney or a local District Attorney for prosecution. If a referral does not warrant a criminal charge,civil or administrative remedies may be pursued. In the vast majority of cases when no evidence is found they may find that you are still impaired and then cut you off anyway but they will not attempt to charge you. People with mental disorders are especially vulnerable and favored targets for this. ******************************************************************************** Latoya
On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:19:49 -0500, in alt.social-security-disability "Six String Stu" <hawkinnc45@nccray.net>
wrote:
>up on your case is extremely low and quickly dismissed once the individual's
>disability is recognized.
But if they come to your house then the odds are 100%. They came to my house, they cut me off, they sent me into a horrific episode that cost me a broken bone and orthopedic surgery. I fought, I won but the stress was unbearable and I've still not recovered. It has been just over one year since this started and I'm still suffering but slowly recovering. http://works.bepress.com/theodore_mccombs/1/ a research paper on this very
subject. Do we need a new article each day to tell us that gravity exists? Another link:
http://www.schizoaffective.org/Investigators%20probe%20disability%20claims and another
http://www.wsp.wa.gov/crime/cdiu.htm and another
http://www.voanews.com/Khmer/archive/2006-12/2006-12-07-voa3.cfm .
In my case they went so far as to goggled for my name on Usenet and they printed them up and put them in my SSA file. They also copied every page in my web site and put them in my SSA file. My lawyer tried to protect me from this fact because he knew the trauma it would cause me to know but it all came out at my reconsideration hearing. My family members were also googled and my spouse was questioned at our house. According to my lawyer it is not uncommon for them to follow disabled people in their cars and question their
college professors. They questioned 3 of my neighbors about me. They knocked on 4 of my neighbors doors but were only able to talk to 3 of them. When they came to my door they pretended to be investigating "mail fraud" My lawyer says this is a common police tactic. They asked all my neighbors if I was a criminal and my neighbors said that no I seemed like a normal law-abiding citizen. So even though the SSDI appointed doctor said I was disabled and I have medical records that go back to 1984 they cut me off because my neighbors said that I seem normal. In the end I won but not without a shit ton of stress. Even now when I am stressed I sometimes catch myself thinking that the State Patrol is following me.
In three years they will probably review my case again.... sigh..
********************************************************************************
six string stu wrote:
Latoya, the point is this.....
Who are you "helping" with this constant barrage? And on the flip side of
that coin, "who are you hurting"?
You've caused distress to some folks in here with your paranoia. Folks who
have emotional or mental ailments.
You could probably find a better way to deal with your inner turmoil and
still be of assistance to those who are experiancing the same set of
circumstances that you went through. Help them by giving advice from your
personal experiance but please do try to refrain from causing folks to worry
unneccasarily by posting doom and gloom stories.
Look, we all know our society is FUBAR, we all already know that the general
public has no idea of what it is like to suffer from a life altering
disability, but the solution lies in educating the masses, not scaring the
shit out of our peers.
**********************************************************************************
| Cambodian Refugees Investigated for SSI Fraud | |
| California 07/12/2006 |
Listen Kang Sivone reports in Khmer
From 1975 to 1979, two million Cambodians were murdered by the Khmer Rouge in the killing fields. Thirty years later, a major medical study in the U.S. finds that two thirds of the 150,000 Cambodian refugees here still suffer from the disabling flashbacks, nightmares and depression of post-traumatic stress disorder. Now, in California’s Bay Area, dozens of Cambodians face a new challenge. The Social Security Administration is investigating them, for fraud.
 |
| Dr. Mona Afary conducts an art therapy session for some of her Cambodian patients |
Souphan: "I ran with my child. Run, run. And then I accidentally dropped my child’s hands. And they shot my child. And my child died."
Another daughter starved to death in the refugee camp. Psychologist Mona Afary first heard Souphan’s story two years ago.
Dr. Afary: "She basically could not carry a conversation without crying. It was just the look of someone who is in grief, deep grief. So, definitely this woman needed treatment, and she had needed it for many, many years."
Dr. Afary directs a non-profit clinic in Oakland for refugees. She specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder. Known for afflicting Vietnam war veterans, PTSD can strike anyone after life-threatening events. Without therapy, the psychic damage can last for years. Afary says that’s the case for her Cambodian patients.
Dr. Afary: "None of the Cambodians had received medical treatment before, and it was like they had a scream inside them that had never come out. It seemed as if they were frozen in their traumatized state."
Souphan came to see her after she’d lost many jobs. She said she was seeing images of her dead daughters and would weep uncontrollably at work.
Souphan: "I don’t know what kind of work to do. I don’t have enough money to pay the bills."
Afary sent a psychological evaluation to Social Security. She said Souphan couldn’t work because of depression and PTSD, and would need disability benefits while in therapy.
 |
In the past two years, Afary sent similar assessments for dozens of Cambodians. Jonathan Lasher is a legal advisor with the investigative branch of Social Security. He agreed to be interviewed only off tape. Lasher says so many similar diagnoses from the same psychologist typically lead to an investigation.
Souphan: "They rang my doorbell. One woman and one man. They asked to see my medicines."
Social Security opened investigations on at least twenty Cambodians, who say investigators trailed them in the streets, to supermarkets, to doctors appointments. Souphan says in Cambodia, such actions were followed by imprisonment, and death. Souphan is actually not her name – she asked it be changed because she now fears the U.S. government.
Souphan: "I was scared. I didn’t know what they had come for."
Investigators gave Souphan a standard test of mental function. They asked how apples and oranges are similar. She said she didn’t know. The investigator wrote in his report, “…incorrect responses to such basic questions are often associated with malingering.” In other words, she was faking it.
Social security denied Souphan’s disability benefits. Dr. Afary says she understands that social security needed to check out the Cambodians’ claims. But, she says, for the Cambodians, Social Security’s style of investigation is psychological torture.
Dr. Afary: "Since these investigations started, all the symptoms came back. Nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks. Their homes don’t feel safe anymore."
 |
Stephen Weiss: "The investigations are being done despite the fact that there is substantial documentation of their condition, despite their community and personal history."
But David Butler, a supervisor in the investigative branch in Los Angeles, says they don’t change the style of their investigations to accommodate the mental health needs of refugees.
David Butler: "We’re not psychiatrists and we’re not medical doctors. We’re federal investigators. So, when you get a fraud investigation, you look at everything and you go where it takes you."
Social Security’s western public affairs officer Leslie Walker would only comment off tape. She said they constantly work with their staff to be culturally sensitive. But they have to forward suspicious cases to the independent investigative branch. Said Walker, “We can’t influence what they do.” The Cambodian’s lawyers say the investigations led to a denial of benefits in all twenty cases.
Seven have been overturned by appeals judges, who granted benefits. Thirteen appeals, including Souphan’s are pending. And, social security continues to open new investigations of Cambodians, with no change in methods. Dr. Afary says Souphan, after making progress in therapy, is again overwhelmed by fear.
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