Lopez ex rel. Lopez v. Barnhart

• Decision Date: 09 July 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-2646.,02-2646.
• Citation: 336 F.3d 535
• Parties: Lorenzo LOPEZ, on behalf of Roberta LOPEZ, deceased, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jo Anne B. BARNHART, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

336 F.3d 535

Lorenzo LOPEZ, on behalf of Roberta LOPEZ, deceased, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jo Anne B. BARNHART, Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 02-2646.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued January 28, 2003.

Decided July 9, 2003.

Barry A. Schultz (argued), Evanston, IL, for plaintiff-appellant.

Thomas P. Walsh, Office of U.S. Attorney, J. David Skidmore (argued), Social Security Administration, Office of the General Counsel, Region V, Chicago, IL, for defendant-appellee.

Before ROVNER, EVANS, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

Roberta Lopez applied for disability benefits, claiming initially that she could not work because severe pain in her left shoulder and hand had resulted in loss of use of that hand. The Social Security Administration ("SSA") denied her application, and while the matter was before an administrative law judge ("ALJ") Mrs. Lopez expanded her claim to include additional allegations of right-hand impairment. The ALJ, however, concluded that she was not disabled because, according to the ALJ, she retained use of her right hand despite loss of functioning in her left. The ALJ's decision became the final decision of the Commissioner of Social Security when the SSA's Appeals Council denied review. Mrs. Lopez then sought review in the district court, which upheld the ALJ's decision. After Mrs. Lopez's death in April 2002, her husband, Lorenzo Lopez, brought this appeal on her behalf. Because we conclude that the ALJ failed to articulate a legitimate reason for disregarding medical evidence of right-hand impairment that supported Mrs. Lopez's claim of disability, we vacate the district court's judgment upholding the Commissioner's decision and remand to the SSA for further proceedings.

Mrs. Lopez first complained of pain in her left shoulder in 1995. Her doctor concluded that the pain was due to compression, inflammation, or injury to her spine and treated her with traction and physical therapy. After six weeks of physical therapy, Mrs. Lopez stated that she no longer had pain in her shoulder. She was directed to continue exercises at home.

Mrs. Lopez began to experience pain again — this time in her left shoulder, wrist, and hand — in 1996. Mrs. Lopez's physician diagnosed her with carpal tunnel syndrome in her left hand. The physician treated her with conservative management, including physical therapy and pain medication. This treatment continued for several months without relief, and in February 1997 Mrs. Lopez underwent carpal tunnel release surgery on her left wrist, followed by therapy for her left wrist and hand. After this therapy concluded in May 1997, Mrs. Lopez's therapist noted that she showed only minimal improvement in left-hand grip and pinch strength and continued to report that when engaged in any activity or lifting she experienced pain in her left hand that subsided with rest.

Mrs. Lopez applied for disability benefits in 1998, claiming an onset of disability on January 30, 1997. Her claim — which alleged disability due to loss of function of her left hand and pain in her left shoulder, wrist, and hand — was denied initially and on reconsideration, and she requested a hearing before an ALJ. In preparation for the hearing, the ALJ reviewed the report of Dr. Mila Bacalla, the SSA's consulting physician. Dr. Bacalla had evaluated Mrs. Lopez's residual functioning capacity in June 1998, a process that included reviewing her medical history. Of significance here, Dr. Bacalla recounted that the medical evidence of record showed that Mrs. Lopez suffered from bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, meaning in both hands. Dr. Bacalla saw no sign of anatomic abnormality in either hand and concluded that Mrs. Lopez had normal grip strength in her right hand but decreased grip and some difficulty with fine manipulation in her left. Dr. Bacalla concluded that Mrs. Lopez could sit, stand, and walk without limitation, and could lift 25 pounds frequently and 50 pounds occasionally. But Dr. Bacalla acknowledged that all of these activities were limited by weakness in Mrs. Lopez's left hand and that any usage of her left hand would have to be monitored.

At the hearing Mrs. Lopez testified that since 1997 she had continued to experience pain and discomfort in her left shoulder, arm, and hand. She stated that she felt nearly constant pain in her left wrist and hand and that she always wore a wrist splint at night and regularly wore one during the day to control movement in her left wrist. She also stated that she could not bend her left wrist. She testified that she often experienced numbness, tingling, and swelling in her fingers on her left hand and that her left hand was often cold and clammy. She added that the pain in her left shoulder would go away for as long as two or three months at a time but would then return for at least six weeks and as long as three months.

Mrs. Lopez also testified that she experienced pain and swelling in her right wrist and hand from 1997 until the date of the hearing. She had not reported rightside difficulties in her application for benefits. But according to Mrs. Lopez, she had planned to have carpal tunnel release surgery on her right wrist after she completed surgery and therapy on her left wrist. The pain and discomfort in her left wrist had not improved after surgery, however, so she never consented to surgery on her right wrist. She explained that the swelling in her right hand limited her ability to pick up items and made her very clumsy. Mrs. Lopez estimated that these symptoms would occur approximately one day during every three-week period and would usually be gone by the following morning.

Mrs. Lopez also recounted that the pain and discomfort she experienced in both hands severely limited her ability to accomplish everyday tasks. She had difficulty cooking, washing dishes, driving, and making a bed. She rarely went to the grocery store alone because she had difficulty picking up bottles or canned goods. She could clean around the house, but only when her right hand was not bothering her. Furthermore, the pain impacted her ability to concentrate; she testified that at times she could not have a conversation with her husband or play with her grandchildren because she was unable to focus her mind on anything other than her pain.

After examining the medical reports and Mrs. Lopez's testimony, the ALJ concluded that she could lift and carry 10 to 20 pounds, could push and pull up to 10 pounds with her upper extremities, and could sit, stand, and walk without limitation. Although Mrs. Lopez never conclusively stated that she was either right or left-hand dominant, the ALJ determined that she was right-hand dominant because she ate and wrote with her right hand. Finally, the ALJ concluded that she had no functional use of her non-dominant left hand. The ALJ then applied the five-step analysis outlined by 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520 and concluded that Mrs. Lopez: (1) was not currently employed; (2) had a "severe" impairment, specifically carpal tunnel syndrome in her left wrist and hand; (3) had no functional use of her non-dominant left hand; (4) was no longer able to perform the semi-skilled and unskilled work that she had performed in the past; and (5) was nonetheless able to perform the job of machine tender at the light exertional level. But in response to a hypothetical posed by Mrs. Lopez's attorney, the vocational expert conceded that there were no available jobs for Mrs. Lopez if she had no use of her right hand for even one day out of every three weeks. The ALJ concluded, however, that there existed "no medical evidence of a right hand problem" and that Mrs. Lopez's testimony regarding the existence of such a...