The Golden State Warriors’ Kristaps Porzingis Has Been Diagnosed With POTS
In a recent article from SFGate, we learned that the Golden State Warriors acquired Kristaps Porzingis, a 30-year-old center and forward who revealed that he has been diagnosed with
postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). As the article explains, it is rather surprising to encounter a professional male athlete with POTS, as the condition more commonly afflicts young women. POTS is a disorder that impacts the autonomic nervous system. When a POTS patient transitions from lying down to standing or sitting upright, their blood pools in their lower body, causing their heart to beat faster in an attempt to counter the body’s diminished blood flow. This sudden increase in heart rate is called tachycardia, and it can cause a host of symptoms, including:
- Heart palpitations
- Chest pain
- Dizziness
- Lightheadedness
- Loss of consciousness
- Fatigue
- Brain fog
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Trembling
- Blurry vision
In recent years, we have noticed a sizable uptick in disability claims due to POTS. Not only do many POTS patients have difficulty physically standing or sitting upright at work, their cognition is often impaired due to their orthostatic intolerance. It is also common to see POTS paired with other disabling conditions, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, long COVID, and migraines. In the past year alone, our firm has helped multiple POTS clients secure their disability benefits. For example, we successfully helped a bright young software engineer get her benefits reinstated after Hartford terminated them after only one year. Hartford claimed that she could return to her mentally challenging work, even though she was unable to sit upright for more than 30 minutes at a time and only one hour total per day. After we filed her appeal, Hartford reopened her claim.
We also helped an executive at an open-source company secure her long-term disability benefits from Lincoln Financial Group by establishing that she was no longer able to keep up with the high cognitive demands of her job due to her POTS and ME/CFS symptoms. We have likewise had success establishing our POTS clients’ disability through litigation. We secured a favorable settlement with Unum for a client who had such severe POTS symptoms that she required regular in-home saline solution infusions and relied on a rollator just to get around her home.
If you would like to learn more about seeking assistance with your disability claim, please
contact our office.