Can treatment be a disability?

On Behalf of | Jan 9, 2023 | Long-Term Disability/ERISA

Have you ever heard someone say that the treatment is worse than the condition? This usually isn’t true in a strict sense. But it does underscore just how detrimental certain types of treatment can be to your health.

For instance, perhaps you’ve been diagnosed with cancer. The cancer itself may only have presented mild symptoms, and you feel happy to have caught it early. But going through radiation or chemotherapy could cause you to feel very sick and lethargic. You know that the treatment is not worse than the disorder because cancer, when left unchecked, can be fatal. But that doesn’t change the fact that this treatment has had a major impact on the way you live your life.

So, can this treatment qualify as a disability?

It depends on the situation

Cancer is a tricky disorder because it encompasses so many different things. Some types of cancer certainly can qualify as a disability. Having an aggressive treatment schedule may contribute to this. The government wants to see how it impacts your daily life and especially your ability to earn a living. If your disease and the treatment that you’re getting make it so you can’t work at all and you need daily assistance, then it can qualify as a disability.

On the other side of the coin, however, there are those who just need minor surgery to remove skin cancer or something of this nature. In a case like that, it likely isn’t going to qualify as a disability because the treatment is simple and doesn’t impact your ability to work.

As you move through this process, be sure you know about all of your legal options.