Goble v. Astrue

385 F. App'x 588
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 14, 2010
DocketNo. 09-2851
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 385 F. App'x 588 (Goble v. Astrue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goble v. Astrue, 385 F. App'x 588 (7th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

ORDER

Annette Goble seeks review of the denial by an Administrative Law Judge of her application for disability insurance benefits. Specifically, she contests the ALJ’s conclusions that her testimony was not credible and that she retained a residual functional capacity for light work. Because the ALJ impermissibly substituted her own judgment for that of the treating physicians, we reverse and remand.

In November 2004, Goble applied for disability insurance benefits, claiming an inability to work as of that date due to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, herniated and degenerative discs, and chronic migraines. Goble was born in 1958, is licensed in practical nursing, and worked as a licensed practical nurse, teacher’s assistant and pharmacy technician. The local disability agency denied her application, and the ALJ reconsidered the denial at a hearing in May 2007.

At the hearing Goble presented medical records from treating physicians including Goble’s family practitioner, Dr. Dale Hadland, who first diagnosed her with fibromyalgia in 1995. Since 2004, he has prescribed Cymbalta, Skelaxin, and methadone for her fibromyalgia and chronic back pain. He wrote a letter in 2006 stating: “I believe the patient is unemployable. She is unable to sit, stand, bend, and/or really function mentally in any type of employment situation secondary to her chronic pain syndrome and muscle tightness/pain associated with the fibromyalgia.” Goble also presented medical records from internist Dr. Oke-chukwu N. Iwu, who first saw her in October 2006. He noted that she had severe fibromyalgia, fairly significant degenerative joint disease, inability to sleep, and mild major depression. He later increased her methadone dosage. In April 2007, Dr. Iwu wrote Goble’s lawyer saying that she was under his care “for chronic pain syndrome, primarily due to fibromyalgia, which is fairly crippling.” Dr. Iwu said that Goble was unable to sit or stand for more than 5 or 10 minutes without aggravating her pain and needed assistance with activities of daily living involving arm extension.

Goble also saw several consulting physicians, including psychologist Lynne E. Johnson, who performed a mental-status [590]*590evaluation in August 2005 and concluded that Goble had developed a depressive disorder as a reaction to the pain and associated limitations of fibromyalgia. In 2005 two state-agency physicians reviewed the medical record and agreed that Goble suffered from fibromyalgia and neck and back pain, but also concluded that she still could lift 10 pounds frequently and 20 pounds occasionally, and could stand, walk, or sit 6 hours in an 8-hour work day.

At the hearing Goble testified that she cannot sit for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time, or stand for more than a minute, or walk much beyond 100 yards. She added that she cannot raise her arms above shoulder height and drops things all the time. She also testified that she is unable to sleep. Goble said that she can drive, feed herself, brush her teeth, and manipulate buttons and zippers without assistance. She stated that she has difficulty concentrating and maintaining attention. Goble recounted that she and her husband had lived in Utah for 6 months, and when she was there, her fibromyalgia was somewhat better. She testified that she had taken methadone for pain for four years, but it was no longer helping. To avoid increasing her dosage again, she recently switched to morphine. She testified that her pain prevents her from getting out of bed 2 or 3 days a week.

Three other witnesses testified at the hearing. Dr. Andrew Steiner, a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation, was called by the ALJ as a neutral medical expert. Dr. Steiner, who did not examine Goble, opined that her pain is primarily attributable to fibromyalgia and not to degeneration of the spine. He said that he found no “objective evidence” in her medical records supporting Goble’s testimony about experiencing problems with reaching, gripping, grasping, and holding items, and he pronounced Goble capable of performing light work with occasional overhead reaching and no limitation on the use of her hands. Edward J. Utities, a vocational expert, testified that a person with the residual functional capacity described by the ALJ could not perform Goble’s past work but could perform one of the 8,000 jobs in Minnesota for banders-and-cello-phaners, wrapping machine operators, garment folders, polypackers and heat sealers, and other unskilled wrapping and packing positions. Kent Goble, Goble’s husband, testified that her condition had worsened in the two years preceding the hearing. He said that Goble drops things, has memory lapses, and has difficulty staying on task.

In July 2007 the ALJ issued her decision finding Goble not disabled. Under the five-step sequential analysis, see 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(a)(4), the ALJ found at step one that Goble had not engaged in substantial gainful activity since November 2004. At step two, she found that Goble suffers from multiple severe impairments: fibromyalgia or myofascial pain, degenerative disc disease of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, migraine headaches, depression, and chronic pain syndrome. At step three, relying on the testimony of Dr. Steiner, the ALJ concluded that these impairments do not alone or in combination meet or medically equal a listed impairment. The ALJ found that Goble retains the residual functional capacity to perform unskilled, light work. Jobs in this category require lifting 10 pounds frequently and 20 pounds occasionally, and standing or walking 6 hours and sitting 2 hours in an 8-hour work day. The ALJ limited the work, however, to routine, repetitive 3- to 4-step jobs that do not require more than occasional reaching overhead. The ALJ did not entirely credit Goble’s testimony about the intensity, duration, and limiting effect of her symptoms. The ALJ viewed Goble’s statements as inconsistent with notes of treating physicians describing her [591]*591as alert and well oriented and with Goble’s own description of her range of daily living activities. The ALJ also thought it significant that Goble had not completed a recommended physical-therapy program, had temporarily lived in Utah without taking medication, and had previously held full-time jobs despite her impairments and had not sought less-demanding work. Relying on the testimony of the vocational expert, the ALJ concluded that Goble cannot perform her past work but still is employable because there are available jobs that can be performed by someone with her residual functional capacity. The ALJ’s decision became the final decision of the commissioner when the Appeals Council denied Goble’s request for review on May 16, 2008.

Goble presents two main arguments: (1) the ALJ’s credibility determination is patently wrong, and (2) the ALJ’s RFC determination is not supported by substantial evidence.

Goble first argues that the ALJ wrongly concluded that her account of her limitations is contradicted by objective medical evidence. She argues that not only is her pain consistent with the objective evidence, but that no objective support is required for her subjective assertions of pain. She cites Sarchet v. Chater, 78 F.3d 305, 306-07 (7th Cir.1996), for the proposition that fibromyalgia symptoms are entirely subjective, and Bauer v. Astrue, 532 F.3d 606

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Bluebook (online)
385 F. App'x 588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goble-v-astrue-ca7-2010.