I've noticed more and more patients who have ended up on government disability payments. I know it because they tell me during casual conversation in the course of my caring for them.
Often they are active drug addicts or ETOH abusers/addicts. I know this because as their nurse I review their H&P during the course of a day of caring for them as patients. I also have access to their drug and ETOH screens on their lab profiles.
Is active alcoholism or drug addiction now considered official disabilities under SSI? Also, does SSI make people accountable with random drug or alcohol testing?
Usually these patients are males, often in their 40s or 50s, although I recently cared for a man who was in his 30s. He had used heroin and cocaine immediately prior to his admission for a revision of a blown knee. He told me that he received disability.
If a person receives disability for, say, a mental health problem, shouldn't they be drug tested? And, how do they afford heroin, meth, booze, if they are on such a meager income? Shouldn't Uncle Sam make these folks more accountable?
