Richison v. Astrue

462 F. App'x 622
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 7, 2012
DocketNo. 11-2274
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 462 F. App'x 622 (Richison 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
Richison v. Astrue, 462 F. App'x 622 (7th Cir. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

Larold Richison, a 51-year-old kidney-transplant recipient with a history of foot problems, appeals from the district court’s decision upholding the denial of his application for disability benefits. Because substantial evidence supports the Commissioner’s determination, we affirm the judgment.

Richison struggled with numerous physical problems in recent years, chief among them kidney failure and severe stiffness in both of his big toes. His kidney problems forced him to quit his job as a hardware store clerk in 1996, leading to a seven-year period when he received disability insurance. He had successful kidney-transplant surgery in 1999 and told doctors as recently as 2009 that his kidney function was “good.” Nonetheless, Richison’s nephrologist, Dr. Gary Schwochau, wrote in a letter to Richison’s attorney in early 2009 that Richison’s kidneys will deteriorate slowly in the coming years and that eventually he will need dialysis treatment. Schwochau opined that the combined effects of Richi-son’s illnesses “preclude him from doing extensive physical exertion.”

Regarding his toes, Richison suffered from foot pain for years before doctors [624]*624diagnosed him in 2007 with hallux rigidus, a painful deformity that limits motion in the joint at the base of the big toe. See Dorland’s Illustrated Medioal Dictionary 818 (32d ed.2012). He had surgery on his right big toe in 2007 and on his left big toe in 2008. After the first surgery, he was told to elevate his right foot above his heart to prevent swelling; later examinations showed minimal swelling. His podiatrist, Dr. Patrick Yoon, noted that Richison’s circulation was “intact” as of September 2009 and made no mention of leg elevation in his treatment notes, but in a short letter three months later to Ri-chison’s attorney, he opined that Richison had “decreased circulation in both lower extremities” and had to “keep his legs elevated much of the day to eliminate swelling in his lower extremities.” Yoon wrote that Richison was “disabled at this time.”

Richison’s other infirmities include diabetes, hypertension, and a left-shoulder injury that required surgery. He injured the shoulder after falling out of a deer stand while hunting in 2008. Shortly after the surgery, he reported suffering shoulder pain while closing his car’s hood, though doctors found no evidence that he aggravated the injury.

Richison filed his disability claim in May 2007, alleging a period of disability starting in December 2004. After his claim was denied, he received a hearing before an administrative law judge at which he testified that swelling in his feet forced him to spend most of his day in a recliner with his feet elevated to the level of his heart. He reported spending minimal time on his feet and having difficulty driving. He also told the ALJ that he travels once every week to two weeks from his home in northwest Wisconsin to a Minneapolis transplant clinic for follow-up treatment for his kidney. Each visit takes five to six hours, including travel time. The ALJ also heard testimony from a vocational expert, who opined that there were sedentary jobs available in the economy that a person with Richison’s restrictions could perform. When questioned further by Ri-chison’s attorney, the expert acknowledged that many sedentary jobs do not allow employees to work with their feet elevated at or above heart level, though he told the ALJ that some employers allow it.

In rejecting Richison’s claim of disability, the ALJ concluded that his various ailments did not preclude him from doing sedentary work. Navigating through the required five-step analysis, see 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520(a)(4), 416.920(a)(4), the ALJ determined that Richison had not worked since his alleged onset date (step one); his toe stiffness constituted a severe impairment (step two); his impairments did not meet or equal a listed impairment (step three); he could not perform his past work (step four); but there existed jobs in the economy that he could do (step five). As part of his analysis, the ALJ concluded that Richison retained the residual functional capacity (“RFC”) to perform the full range of sedentary work, see id. § 404.1567(a). He did not credit Yoon’s opinion that Richison had to elevate his legs because, he concluded, that opinion was contradicted by other medical evidence. And he discounted Yoon’s opinion that Richison was “disabled” as an ultimate determination for the Commissioner to make. The ALJ also discredited Richi-son’s testimony about his physical limitations, noting that Richison went deer hunting and worked on his car. As for his step-five determination that there existed jobs Richison could perform, the ALJ relied solely on the Medical-Vocational Guidelines (“the grids”), see id. § 404, Subpt. P, App. 2, and did not mention the vocational expert’s testimony.

[625]*625On appeal, Richison challenges four aspects of the ALJ’s decision, which we review as the final word of the Commissioner because the Appeals Council declined review. Scott v. Astrue, 647 F.3d 734, 739 (7th Cir.2011). We limit our review to the reasoning set forth in the ALJ’s written decision, see Jelinek v. Astrue, 662 F.3d 805, 811 (7th Cir.2011), assessing whether the decision is supported by substantial evidence. 42 U.S.C. § 405(g); O’Connor-Spinner v. Astrue, 627 F.3d 614, 618 (7th Cir.2010). Substantial evidence is such “evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Skinner v. Astrue, 478 F.3d 836, 841 (7th Cir.2007) (quoting Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971)).

First, Richison contends that the ALJ erred in discounting Yoon’s opinion that he must elevate his legs all day — a requirement that would limit greatly (and perhaps eliminate) his employment prospects — and his conclusion that Richison is “disabled.” Yoon was his treating podiatrist, and Richison argues that there was no evidence to undermine his opinion. He insists that those opinions should have been afforded controlling weight. But a treating physician’s opinion receives controlling weight only when it is not “inconsistent with the other substantial evidence” in the record, 20 C.F.R. § 404.1527(d)(2); see Scott, 647 F.3d at 739; Punzio v. As-true, 630 F.3d 704, 710 (7th Cir.2011). The ALJ did not err here in determining that Yoon’s opinion conflicted with other medical evidence, including his own treatment notes. Though Yoon opined in his letter that Richison had decreased circulation in his legs, which needed to be elevated to eliminate swelling, his treatment notes from September 2009 reported that Richison’s circulation was “intact.” Other doctors’ evaluations also described swelling in his feet as either minimal or nonexistent.

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Bluebook (online)
462 F. App'x 622, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richison-v-astrue-ca7-2012.