Prostate Cancer and Long-Term Disability

Prostate Cancer Disability Lawyers in Hamilton, Ontario

By Matt Lalande, Esq

Suffering from prostate cancer is reason enough to be frustrated, but what happens when your insurance carrier decides to deny cut off or deny your long-term disability benefits? There are bills to pay, children to care for, mortgage and car payments to make, households to run, activities to pay for, insurance bills  – and more debt accumulating each and every day that you cannot work or collect the disability benefits that you may be owed payable by the policy that you have been paying into to protect you in times of need. It can be exhausting to have to deal with insurance carriers and lack of communication when your priority should be your health, recovery, and well-being.

Insurance companies routinely deny claimants with prostate-cancer, but don’t give up the fight! We can help get your benefits back on track.

If you have been denied disability benefits, you do not need to give up or take on this burden on your own. Our Hamilton disability lawyers have represented claimants like you, who have been wronged by their insurance carriers and have sought out answers for their denied disability claims.

If you are suffering from prostate cancer, you are not alone.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in Canadian men, with more cases arising in the country than ever before. Despite lifestyle modifications like stopping to smoke, exercise and weight control does offer men the opportunity to decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer, it is a clinical and economical burden.  The Canadian Urological Association reports that 1 in 7 men develop prostate cancer during their lifetime, and 1 in 27 die from it. This is a similar ratio to the rate of death in breast cancer among women. There are a variety of risk factors associated with prostate cancer, such as genetic history, race, age, and diet. It is particularly dangerous

because there are no signs or symptoms in the early stages, and as with all cancers, the longer it is left undetected, the worse it will  become, with treatment options becoming limited.

Prostate cancer begins in the prostate gland in men, where seminal fluid is produced and developed, and comes in a variety of forms. Sometimes the cancer is contained and non-threatening, but other times it can become extremely aggressive and spread rapidly throughout the body.

Some prostate cancer treatment options include external beam radiation therapy, radical prostatectomy, and brachytherapy. All of these treatment options can cause internal and invasive complications and lower global health scores. They are also time-consuming and/or invasive, and require significant downtime that results in missed work and lost income.

Prostate Cancer and Long Term Disability Benefits

The impacts of prostate cancer do not stop when treatment ends. There are always ongoing factors that can influence your ability to perform the duties of your occupation. For example, you may feel overwhelmed by depression and/or anxiety long after treatment is over.

Approximately one-third of all cancer patients report experiencing severe anxiety after their diagnosis and treatment, which leads to the need for psychosocial treatment or psychotherapy. There are also physical complications that arise even after the cancer is treated, including erectile dysfunction and incontinence, as well as the risk of cancer spreading to other areas of the body.

Sometimes treatment does not work and requires ongoing rehabilitation, which can also impact your recovery time. There may also be sexual dysfunction, or bowel or urinary issues that, in combination with depression and anxiety, may in fact cause a person to become unemployable. Studies have shown that 2 years after treatment, more than 1 in 4 men that experienced radiation had ongoing bowel dysfunction.

Prostate Cancer and Total Disability

In order to satisfy the definition of total disability,  you will need to prove that you are unable to perform the substantial duties of your own occupation.  After two years, your “Own Occupation” coverage will change to “Any Occupation” according to  the COD (Change of Definition) as set out in most disability policies which is normally defined as the inability of the claimant to perform the duties of any comparable job for which he or she is reasonably suited, through training, experience, or education. By law, this must be something that is comparable to the occupation you previously performed, with comparable earnings potential and status.

Many insurance carriers will review the terms of your policy after this period, and employ their own medical professionals to review your medical records, request new reports, and conduct new investigations into your disability claim. As a result, it is at this specific juncture that many disability benefits are cut-off or denied.

If you suffer from prostate cancer and your disability benefits have been denied or cut-off, our Hamilton disability lawyers can help. No matter where you are in Ontario, we serve claimants province-wide.

Our Hamilton disability lawyers can help file suit against your insurance carrier and seek a declaration from the Court that you suffer a total disability. In many cases, this involves retaining the appropriate oncology and vocational experts to assess every aspect of your case. Our Hamilton disability lawyers will assess everything from your medical condition, education, work history, treatment records, stress tolerance, and more, in order to prove that you deserve the benefits you have been paying into.

Remember, you have the onus of proving that you have been wrongfully or unreasonably denied benefits, and that your overall condition qualifies you to continue to receive those monthly benefits.

If you suffer from prostate cancer and you have been cut-off or denied your long-term disability benefits, call us today to book a free consultation with our disability   lawyers to learn more about the options that are available to you.  Call us today at 905-333-8888 or fill out a contact form and we will respond to your inquiry within 24 hours. Together, we can recover the benefits you deserve.