McCarty v. Barnhart

85 F. App'x 528
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 5, 2004
DocketNo. 03-1910
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 85 F. App'x 528 (McCarty v. Barnhart) 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
McCarty v. Barnhart, 85 F. App'x 528 (7th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER

Marcia McCarty seeks disability insurance benefits, alleging that she is unable to work due to lower back pain, difficulties with her heart, and memory loss related to a heart attack. The Social Security Administration determined that although McCarty had several “severe” impairments, she retained the residual capacity to perform her past relevant work as an inspector and consequently was not disabled. She appeals this decision, and we affirm.

McCarty has not worked since October 1996, when she injured her back falling down concrete stairs during a work break. She was taken to a hospital, where she was x-rayed and diagnosed with bruising of her head, buttocks, and tailbone. A CT scan performed two weeks after the accident revealed a “mild diffuse disc bulge” between two of her vertebrae and a “mild degenerative change” in the facet joints in her lower back. McCarty was referred to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Aivars Vitols, who noted that she was experiencing lower back pain that increased when she bent over to sweep, wash dishes, or make the bed. Dr. Vitols noted that despite her pain and restricted movement, there was “good rehabilitation potential for reducing the pain and increasing pain-free movement.”

In June 1997 McCarty suffered a heart attack during which her heart stopped. Afterwards she complained of short-term memory loss, which her cardiologist attributed to the lack of oxygen to her brain during the attack. During an examination in September 1997, neuropsychologist Dr. Brandon Davis administered a Wechsler memory test to McCarty, and she scored “in the average range for overall general memory functioning.” Dr. Davis reasoned that because McCarty claimed to have had a very good memory, it was “possible and probable” that her memory was not as good as it once was and that “an average memory may be difficult for her to adjust to.”

Over the course of the next year, McCarty continued to experience health problems related to her back and shoulder. In March 1998 Dr. Vitols noted that McCarty still had lower back pain and moderate pain at the base of her spine but had only minimally restricted spine movement. Dr. Vitols also noted that McCarty suffered from a condition caused by compression of the shoulder tendons but that a cortisone injection had almost totally eliminated her pain. Two weeks later Dr. Vitols re-examined McCarty, who stated that after the injection her shoulder had been more or less pain-free. In November 1998 McCarty told Dr. Vitols that she continued to experience lower back pain, and the doctor noted that McCarty’s spinal motion was no more than 60% of the normal range in all directions. In June 1998 state agency physician Dr. Joseph Grady examined McCarty and reported that she had some decreased range of motion in her spine, shoulders, arms, and legs.

In July 1998 state agency physician Dr. W.S. Tucker completed a residual functional capacity assessment. He concluded that McCarty could perform light work but noted that McCarty could not raise her left arm effectively above shoulder level. Dr. Davis, the neuropsychologist, re-examined McCarty in July 1998 as well, diagnosing her with depression but describing her as “independent with her personal habits.” In December 1998 McCarty’s cardiologist noted that her cardiovascular prognosis was good and that her medication for coronary disease would not present a problem during employment.

[530]*530After her application for benefits was denied, a hearing was held before an administrative law judge (“ALJ”). McCarty testified about her previous employment as a light machine operator and as an inspector and told the ALJ that her back and memory were the two greatest impediments to her ability to work. As an inspector, she said that she sat or stood while visually inspecting piston rings. When asked whether she could continue to work as an inspector, McCarty replied that she could because she could sit or stand, but then attempted to qualify her answer, stating that, “But then, I don’t know, I haven’t tried it [working]. It - sometime if I push my back it gets to hurting so bad I have to lay down.” McCarty also said that she did some housework, laundry, and computer work.

McCarty submitted “Rest” and “Pain” questionnaires from two of her treating physicians, Dr. Robert Kominarek and Dr. Vitols. Both doctors noted on the questionnaires that McCarty “requires complete freedom to rest frequently without restriction.” McCarty also submitted a letter from Dr. Vitols, in which he opined that she was “permanently and totally disabled.”

Following the five-step disability analysis set forth in 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520, the ALJ found that McCarty had not engaged in a substantial gainful activity since injuring her back in October 1996. He found that McCarty had “severe” impairments of a sprain or a strain of the lower back, residuals of a heart attack, and compression of the tendons in her left shoulder, but that none of these impairments-either alone or in combination-were listed in or equivalent, to an impairment listed in the regulations. He concluded that McCarty retained the residual capacity to perform a limited range of light work, including her past relevant work as an inspector. In making this determination, the ALJ discredited McCarty’s subjective complaints of pain to the extent that she purported to describe a condition of disability. Adter the Appeals Council denied her request for review and a district court affirmed the ALJ’s decision, McCarty.appealed to this court.

We review the ALJ’s conclusions deferentially, upholding the decision if reached under the correct legal standard and supported by substantial evidence. Schmidt v. Apfel, 201 F.3d 970, 972 (7th Cir.2000). Substantial evidence requires no more than “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Powers v. Apfel, 207 F.3d 431, 434 (7th Cir.2000) (quotation marks omitted).

McCarty first argues that the ALJ erroneously discounted the opinions of Drs. Vitols and Kominarek. She contends that since nothing in the record contradicts the physicians’ assessment that she required “complete freedom to rest frequently without restriction,” these opinions were entitled to controlling weight. A treating physician’s opinion is given controlling weight, however, only if it is well supported by medical findings and is not inconsistent with substantial evidence in the record. Dixon v. Massanari, 270 F.3d 1171, 1177 (7th Cir.2001); 20 C.F.R. § 404.1527(d)(2). The ALJ recognized that Drs. Vitols and Kominarek provided opinions that “would suggest that the claimant could not sustain any range of work due to pain and fatigue,” but noted that neither physician supported his conclusion with objective medical evidence. Although both the “Pain” and “Rest” questionnaires specifically asked the doctors to identify the “medical findings that support [a functional capacity] assessment,” the physicians cited nothing. Moreover, the ALJ found that the opinions were inconsis[531]*531tent with substantial evidence in the record.

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85 F. App'x 528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccarty-v-barnhart-ca7-2004.