Cardiovascular Impairments Defined

Cardiovascular disease affects your heart and blood vessels. To qualify for Social Security disability benefits with cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular impairments must result from 1 or more of 4 consequences of heart disease or disorders of the veins or arteries: 

• Chronic heart failure or ventricular dysfunction;
• Discomfort or pain as a result of myocardial ischemia, with or without necrosis of heart muscle;
• Syncope, or near syncope, as a result of inadequate cerebral perfusion from any cardiac cause; and/or
• Central cyanosis as a result of right-to-left shunt, reduced oxygen concentration in the arterial blood, or pulmonary vascular disease. 

The following are the cardiovascular impairments that may qualify you for Social Security disability benefits: 

• Chronic heart failure(CHF) - inability of the heart to pump enough oxygenated blood to body tissues;
• Ischemic heart disease (IHD) - results when 1 or more coronary arteries is narrowed, obstructed or constricted, interfering with blood flow to the heart muscle (ischemia);
• Recurrent arrhythmias - change in regular heartbeat. Your heart may seem to skip a beat or beat irregularly, very quickly (tachycardia), or very slowly (bradycardia);
• Symptomatic congenital heart disease - heart structure abnormalities present at birth;
• Heart transplant - surgery in which a patient with a life-threatening heart problem receives a healthy heart from a deceased donor;
• Aneurysm of aorta or major branches - abnormal dilations of arteries caused by weakening of the arterial wall;
• Chronic venous insufficiency - a condition where veins cannot pump enough oxygen-poor blood back to the heart; and/or
• Peripheral arterial disease - circulatory problem in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to limbs 

If you or someone you love suffers from one of these conditions, you may qualify for Social Security disability benefits. Contact a New York disability attorney who can help answer your questions and determine eligibility.

Contacting a New York Disability Attorney

Before you file your Social Security disability claim, be sure to take advantage of this free consumer's guide: 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Filing a Social Security Disability Claim. Contact the New York Social Security disability lawyers at Decker, Decker, Dito & Internicola for help in building your disability claim - 1-800-976-4904.