My wife was dissabled, but denied Social Security twice, untill we fially broke down and got a layer. After all was said and done, we got it, and they paid for the year and a half that they screwed around. But of course the layer got his $5,000 out of it.
My daughter got a hernia lifting heavy stuff at work. She started by going to our family Dr. who said she needed the operation. We realized it should go through workers comp, so she applied. They sent her to their Dr who said she didn't have a hernia.
She continued to have the pain so she had the operation through our insurance. Then she submitted it to worker's comp after having the operation, and now they are saying "oh, maybe you did have a hernia" and "we will reconsider, but because you had it done outside of our group we don't know if we'll cover it". If they come back with a no, we will get a layer. I think the layer will get her more money, but he'll take some of it too. Perhaps we should sue for malpractice.
Good luck with your case, but I agree with Prudence, I think they tend to deny at first to prevent people from filing frivolously. I know Social Security definatly will almost ALWAYS deny at first.