Article archive / November 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 3. Source pages: 4.
Dr. Michael Chafetz, New Orleans clinical and neuropsychologist, presented his research about malingering to United States Senator Tom Carper’s office, on October 30. The webinar was provided as a service in the public interest and was hosted by the Louisiana Psychological Association and their On-Line Academy.
Senator Carper is the US Senator from Delaware and is Deputy Whip. He is chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee, and serves on the Finance Committee.
Chafetz reviewed his research spanning from 2007 to 2013 for the Senator, which shows that 42 to 45 percent of social security claimants for disability exhibit some degree, often a high degree, of false or exag- gerated symptoms.
In his presentation Chafetz noted that this is part of human nature and is an issue in private disability as well as in the public program.
He described for the Senator and staff some of the problems he sees with the current programs or policies, some which activity discourage validity testing. He spoke about how science can provide helpful tools and increase the prediction accuracy.
And, he looked at cost savings throughout the program from a new publication from he and Underhill, providing specific calculations for various mental listings.
In regard to the backlogs in SS Disability, he said that the Administrative Law Judges are not the driver of the problems, and must follow the administrative law as written. But they are not permitted to order tests of validity.
Chafetz has been at the center of a national discussion on the use of psychometric instruments to help psychologists make more accurate determinations about social security disability claims. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has rejected the use of these tests saying that they are not useful. More recently, the Office of Inspector General for the SSA found no support for the SSA’s position and asked them to reconsider the issue. (See PT, Vol 5, No 2, for review.)
Chafetz has also helped educate Senator Tom Coburn and staff regarding the science behind malingering. Coburn was recently interviewed on Sixty Minutes about malingering in social security disability.
Dr. Chafetz is a board certified neuropsychologist and serves on the board of the American Association of Clinical Neuropsychologists. He told the attendees of the October 30 webinar that SSA would need guidance in this area, in order to improve their approaches.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.