DeWitt v. Astrue , 381 F. App'x 782 ( 2010 )

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
June 2, 2010
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
HELEN DEWITT,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 09-3250
(D.C. No. 6:08-CV-01257-JTM)
MICHAEL J. ASTRUE, Commissioner (D. Kan.)
of Social Security,
Defendant-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before BRISCOE, Chief Judge, BALDOCK, and TACHA, Circuit Judges.
Helen DeWitt appeals from the district court’s order affirming the Social
Security Commissioner’s denial of her application for disability insurance
benefits. She argues that the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who decided her
case (1) inadequately considered her obesity; and (2) improperly weighed the
opinions of treating and examining medical sources. We have jurisdiction under
*
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding
precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and
collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent
with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
42 U.S.C. § 405(g) and 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We reverse and remand on the first
issue, and therefore, we do not reach the second issue.
B ACKGROUND
DeWitt alleged that she became disabled in October 2001, at the age of 40,
due to thoracic outlet syndrome, capsulitits of her right shoulder, overuse
syndrome, and bilateral ulnar nerve numbness. According to DeWitt, these
conditions resulted in the loss of her job in the bindery department of a factory
because she could not grab, hold, lift, or reach for objects. When her application
for benefits was denied, she requested a hearing, and expanded her medical
conditions to include obesity. Aplt. App., Vol. 2 at 127.
An ALJ conducted a hearing and determined that DeWitt was not disabled.
The Social Security Administration’s Appeals Council vacated the decision,
however, and remanded the case with instructions that the ALJ re-evaluate the
treating and examining source opinions, and take testimony from a vocational
expert.
On remand, DeWitt testified before a different ALJ that she is a
high-school graduate, with some college hours, weighed 280 pounds and is 5'8"
tall. She indicated that her biggest medical problems were numbness in her right
shoulder/arm, bilateral numbness in her fingers, a herniated disc in her upper
neck, and pain in her knees.
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Dr. Malcolm Brahms, a non-examining orthopedist, testified via telephone
that his review of the medical records showed that DeWitt suffers from “problems
with her neck, with her right shoulder, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and an
element of depression.” Id. at 60. Consequently, he believed DeWitt could
perform sedentary work with restrictions on gripping, grasping, reaching,
fingering, pushing, pulling, climbing, and crawling. He further testified that he
disagreed with the opinion of one of DeWitt’s treating physicians, Dr. A. L.
Sharma, who had prepared a residual functional capacity (RFC) assessment that
essentially disqualified DeWitt from all sedentary work. Dr. Brahms also
identified two other RFC assessments, one of which again disqualified DeWitt
from sedentary work. See id. at 61 (Dr. Brahms’ testimony identifying agency
RFC assessments performed by Dr. J. F. Legler and ARNP Cheryl Rajotte). But
Dr. Brahms did not articulate the basis for his disagreements. When cross-
examined by DeWitt’s counsel, Dr. Brahms indicated that he also disagreed with
a four-hour sitting limitation imposed by Dr. Joseph Galate, who had examined
DeWitt and treated her as part of her worker’s compensation case. Dr. Brahms
explained, “She doesn’t sit on her hands and her shoulders. So, I see no reason
that sitting should be a problem.” Id. at 63.
A vocational expert (VE) testified that a hypothetical claimant could not
perform DeWitt’s past work if restricted to “sedentary exertional work with no
overhead reaching on the right, no stooping, bending, crawling, no vibration, no
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keyboarding, no repetitive fingering and handling.” Id. at 81. But the VE did
identify sedentary, unskilled jobs in the national economy that the hypothetically
restricted claimant could perform, such as security-systems monitor, telephone
solicitor, and credit authorizer.
After the hearing, the ALJ found that DeWitt suffers from four severe
impairments: status post repair of a partial rotator cuff tear, status post carpal
tunnel surgeries, degenerative disc disease in the neck, and obesity. Nevertheless,
the ALJ concluded that DeWitt was not disabled, as there were other jobs in the
national economy that she could perform with her RFC. In reaching that
conclusion, the ALJ gave “considerable weight” to Dr. Brahms’ testimony about
DeWitt’s limitations. Id. at 25. The ALJ also mistakenly stated that Dr. Brahms
had testified about DeWitt’s obesity. Id. at 21.
DeWitt unsuccessfully sought review from the Appeals Council, and then
petitioned the federal district court for relief. The district court upheld the ALJ’s
determination, prompting the instant appeal.
D ISCUSSION
I. Standards of Review
We review the ALJ’s “decision to determine whether the factual findings
are supported by substantial evidence in the record and whether the correct legal
standards were applied.” Wilson v. Astrue, 602 F.3d 1136, 1140 (10th Cir. 2010).
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“Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept
as adequate to support a conclusion.” Id. (quotation omitted).
The Social Security Administration employs a five-step framework to
determine whether a claimant is disabled and entitled to benefits. Wall v. Astrue,
561 F.3d 1048, 1051 (10th Cir. 2009). At step four, an “ALJ must evaluate a
claimant’s physical and mental [RFC].” Bowman v. Astrue, 511 F.3d 1270, 1272
(10th Cir. 2008) (quotation omitted). RFC represents “the most [that the
claimant] can still do despite [her] limitations,” 20 C.F.R. § 404.1545(a)(1), and
must include “all of [the claimant’s] medically determinable impairments,”
see id. § 404.1545(a)(2).
II. Evaluation of Obesity
DeWitt argues that the ALJ failed to properly assess her RFC in light of her
obesity. We agree. Social Security Ruling (SSR) 02-1p requires an ALJ to
consider the effects of obesity when assessing RFC, including the fact that “the
combined effects of obesity with other impairments can be greater than the effects
of each of the impairments considered separately.” Titles II & XVI: Evaluation
of Obesity, SSR 02-1p, 2000 WL 628049, at *1 (Sept. 12, 2002). Thus, an ALJ
may “not make assumptions about the severity or functional effects of obesity
combined with other impairments,” but rather, must “evaluate each case based on
the information in the case record.” Id. at *6.
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Here, in setting DeWitt’s RFC, the ALJ gave “considerable weight” to
Dr. Brahms’ testimony. Aplt. App., Vol. 2 at 25. But in doing so, the ALJ
mistakenly believed that Dr. Brahms had identified obesity as one of DeWitt’s
medical conditions. In fact, Dr. Brahms offered no opinion about the functional
effects of DeWitt’s obesity, either singularly or in combination with her other
conditions. He simply never mentioned obesity. 1 Further, Dr. Brahms indicated
that he disagreed with the four-hour sitting limitation imposed by Dr. Galate
because “[s]he doesn’t sit on her hands and her shoulders.” Id. at 63.
Apparently, Dr. Brahms was referring to DeWitt’s carpal-tunnel syndrome and
rotator-cuff tear as her only limitations. But as noted in SSR 02-1p, obesity may
limit exertional functions like sitting, and it could contribute to problems with
hand manipulation, see 2000 WL 628049 at *6, beyond the effects of her carpal-
tunnel syndrome. Also, Dr. Brahms summarily disagreed with Dr. Sharma’s RFC
assessment, which identified significant exertional limitations on sitting and
standing. And despite identifying two agency RFC determinations that were in
stark disagreement over DeWitt’s exertional capabilities, Dr. Brahms offered no
explanation as to why he agreed with one, but not the other. Given Dr. Brahms’
failure to mention DeWitt’s obesity and his quick dismissal of conflicting medical
1
Even after the ALJ summarized certain medical records and mentioned
“obesity,” Dr. Brahms recounted DeWitt’s medical conditions without reference
to her obesity. See Aplt. App., Vol. 2 at 59, 60.
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opinions, we fail to see how the ALJ’s reliance on his testimony could satisfy the
duty to consider the effects of DeWitt’s obesity on her other severe impairments.
The Commissioner argues that the ALJ adequately conisidered the
functional impacts of DeWitt’s obesity, given that the ALJ’s decision recognizes
she is obese and ultimately limits her to sedentary work with certain restrictions.
But there is nothing in the decision indicating how or whether her obesity
influenced the ALJ in setting those restrictions. Rather, it appears that the ALJ’s
RFC assessment was based on “assumptions about the severity or functional
effects of [DeWitt’s] obesity combined with [her] other impairments”—a process
forbidden by SSR 02-1p. See 2000 WL 628049 at *6.
The district court rejected DeWitt’s obesity argument on several grounds.
First, the district court stated that DeWitt failed to claim obesity as an
impairment. But she clearly raised it when she requested a hearing before an
ALJ, and the ALJ determined that her obesity was a severe impairment. Second,
the district court noted that DeWitt was obese before she filed for disability
benefits, when she was working. But that fact hardly answers the extent to which
her obesity impacted the functional limitations caused by her other recognized
severe impairments, which led the ALJ to conclude that she could no longer
perform her past work. Finally, the district court cited several cases, including
Rutherford v. Barnhart, 399 F.3d 546, 553 (3d Cir. 2005), which suggest that an
ALJ’s failure to explicitly consider the functional effects of obesity is harmless
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error if the ALJ adopts the limitations suggested by doctors who were aware of
the claimant’s obesity. The Third Circuit has indicated, however, that Rutherford
does not apply where, as here, the claimant’s “obesity was urged, and
acknowledged by the ALJ, as a severe impairment[.]” Diaz v. Comm’r of Soc.
Sec., 577 F.3d 500, 504 (3d Cir. 2009). Similarly, we have insisted on
compliance with SSR 02-1p where “the ALJ failed to give adequate consideration
to the effect of [the claimant’s] obesity in combination with her other severe
impairments.” Hamby v. Astrue, 260 F. App’x 108, 112 (10th Cir. 2008); see also
Baker v. Barnhart, 84 F. App’x 10, 14 (10th Cir. 2003).
Because the ALJ’s decision fails to indicate adequate consideration of
DeWitt’s obesity in relation to her other impairments and her RFC, we cannot
affirm the denial of benefits. As such, we agree with DeWitt’s assertion that this
case must be remanded to ensure compliance with SSR 02-1p.
C ONCLUSION
We REVERSE the judgment of the district court, and we REMAND the
case to the district court with instructions to remand to the Commissioner for
further proceedings in accordance with this order and judgment.
Entered for the Court
Mary Beck Briscoe
Chief Judge
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