Hoy v. Astrue

390 F. App'x 587
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 12, 2010
DocketNo. 10-1015
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 390 F. App'x 587 (Hoy 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
Hoy v. Astrue, 390 F. App'x 587 (7th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

[589]*589ORDER

. An administrative law judge denied John Hoy’s disability claims, and the district court affirmed that decision. Hoy appeals. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

Hoy, now 55 years old, has an employment history consisting mostly of jobs involving heavy labor — in a steel mill, in a fish warehouse, as a day laborer — and one stint as an unarmed security guard, during which he made rounds of a building as a night watchman. He applied for Disability Insurance Benefits and Supplemental Security Income in September 2005, alleging that he had been disabled since August 1999 by abdominal pain from stab wounds; pain in his back and legs; a loss of-sight in his left éye; and a stye on his right eye. His applications were denied initially and upon reconsideration. In June 2007 he received a hearing before an administrative law judge (“ALJ”).

His grim medical history suggests that Hoy has a knack for finding trouble. In 1997 his girlfriend stabbed him several times in his back and his left deltoid. Following treatment in an emergency room, Hoy returned to the hospital a few days later complaining of weakness and numbness in his left arm. He was told to take Tylenol for any pain and given permission to resume regular activities. Hoy was stabbed again by his girlfriend — it is not clear whether this was the same girlfriend — in 1999, this time in the abdomen; he needed surgery to repair injuries to his duodenum and colon. Later that year, after he complained of vomiting blood and abdominal pain, he was diagnosed with a small bowel obstruction. He underwent surgery again; an examination the next month showed that his abdomen was normal, his wound was healing nicely, and that he was doing well.

Hoy was hit by a car in 2000. Doctors observed tenderness in his back, neck, chest, and abdomen, but x-rays were negative. He was discharged and prescribed Motrin and Flexeril, a muscle relaxant. Hoy was ambulatory when discharged, and he was cleared to walk and resume regular activities.

One month later Hoy suffered an injury to his right leg, where he was struck several times with a baseball bat, and returned to the -hospital. A doctor observed that he had a full range of motion in his knee and ankle. X-rays showed no definite fracture; the doctor diagnosed a contusion. Two months .later, Hoy broke his right leg during an altercation and underwent surgery, during which doctors installed a small titanium rod in his leg. He was discharged three days later with crutches, a knee immobilizer,, and pain medication. Later that day — after Hoy drank four 40-ounce bottles of beer and several glasses of wine, and apparently also used intravenous drugs — he removed the knee immobilizer, walked on his right leg, fell down, and was re-admitted to the hospital. He was given a cast to protect his leg and dischargéd the next day with pain medication.

Later in 2000, two men attacked and punched Hoy, sending him to the hospital with swelling over his left jaw, a loose tooth, a cut lip, and tenderness in his back. He was admitted for observation and then discharged with instructions to take Motrin for his pain.

Hoy’s eye problems started in 2002, when he received antibiotics for a stye on his right eye. The next year a chalazion— a lump in the eyelid — developed on his right eye; he was prescribed Motrin and referred to the hospital’s eye clinic. Hoy received antibiotics again in 2004 to treat another stye on his right eye. Later that year he was hit by a baseball bat in the [590]*590left eye, left ribs, left arm, and left calf. Hoy reported that his vision was blurry in his left eye. His left eye was sutured and he was diagnosed with fractured ribs. In 2005 Hoy had another chalazion on his right eye, for which the treating physician prescribed Motrin and told him to stop drinking alcohol.

After Hoy applied for benefits, Dr. Scott Kale examined him at the request of the state Bureau of Disability Determination Services. Hoy said he had intermittent pain in his right leg that required him to use a cane, but he did not bring one to the exam. Kale noted that Hoy walked with a mild limp, but could walk without difficulty for several hundred feet. He concluded that Hoy did not need a cane or assistive device to walk. Kale also noted that Hoy was blind in his left eye and that he had intermittent mild lower back pain. Kale’s clinical impressions were that Hoy had mild hypertension; a history of abdominal injury; a history of fractures in his right leg, resulting in a mild limp; and a history of back pain, with a normal range of motion and without radiating pain.

Dr. Marion Panepinto performed a residual functional capacity (“RFC”) assessment of Hoy for the state agency. Panepinto’s opinion was that Hoy could occasionally lift or carry 50 pounds, frequently lift or carry 25 pounds, stand or walk for about six hours in an eight-hour workday, and sit for about six hours. Panepinto also concluded that Hoy could occasionally climb stairs or ramps and frequently stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. Panepinto found that Hoy had limited depth perception and field of vision because he was blind in his left eye, but that his visual impairment was not severe because he had 20/25 vision in his right eye. State agency physician Arj-mand Towfig affirmed Panepinto’s assessment.

At a hearing before the ALJ, Hoy testified that he could no longer work as a security guard because he could not turn or look out of his left eye, and because going up stairs on his rounds was too painful. He said that he had only worked “[m]aybe a couple of days” as a day laborer since stopping work as a security guard, but that he had not done a full day of work since 2000 because he was incapable of working eight hours.

Hoy testified that he was not seeing any doctors regularly, but went to a clinic to get pills for the pain in his back and leg. He said he had some vision in his left eye, but saw only shadows. He felt constant pain in his lower back, and the pain worsened when he tried to do any physical activity or pick up something “too heavy,” which he explained was anything over 15 or 20 pounds. Hoy said the pain in his right leg came and went, but increased when he climbed up and down stairs. He testified that he could walk in reasonable comfort on flat ground for about half a mile, or four city blocks. He also testified that he could sit or stand comfortably for about an hour before his leg bothered him. To relieve his back and leg pain, he wore a back brace and usually took extra-strength Tylenol, although he would get Tylenol 3 when he saw a doctor.

The ALJ posed a hypothetical question to the vocational expert (“VE”) at the hearing: Could someone of Hoy’s age and vocational background perform any of his past relevant work if he had limited depth perception and no left peripheral vision, and could occasionally lift 20 pounds; frequently lift 10 pounds and push or pull 20 pounds; stand, walk, or sit for six hours in an eight-hour day; and climb occasionally? According to the VE, those restrictions would not prevent the person from working as an unarmed security guard. In response to a question from Hoy’s attor[591]*591ney, the VE testified that the individual could still work as a security guard if he could only occasionally push or pull 20 pounds.

The ALJ used the required five-step analysis to evaluate Hoy’s claim, see 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520, 416.920, and concluded that he was not disabled.

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390 F. App'x 587, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoy-v-astrue-ca7-2010.