Strittmatter v. Schweiker
| Decision Date | 09 March 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-2447,82-2447 |
| Citation | 729 F.2d 507 |
| Parties | , Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 15,190 Dorothy M. STRITTMATTER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Richard SCHWEIKER, Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
David R. Sparer, Wilson Street Law Office, Madison, Wis., for plaintiff-appellant.
John R. Byrnes, U.S. Atty., Jeffrey M. Anderson, Asst. U.S. Atty., Madison, Wis., Steven Plotkin, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Regional Atty's Office, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellee.
Before CUDAHY, POSNER and FLAUM, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a district court judgment upholding the denial of social security disability benefits. The administrative law judge's decision on which the denial was based found that the claimant, Dorothy Strittmatter, was, despite her severe impairments, capable of doing the work she had done in the past. This finding (if supportable) required denial of her claim for disability benefits. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 423(d)(2)(A); 20 C.F.R. Sec. 404.1520; Wallschlaeger v. Schweiker, 705 F.2d 191, 197 (7th Cir.1983). If the finding had been to the contrary, the administrative law judge would have proceeded to apply the "grid" (20 C.F.R. Appendix 2 (Medical-Vocational Guidelines)) described in Cummins v. Schweiker, 670 F.2d 81, 82-83 (7th Cir.1982), to determine whether the claimant was disabled.
Mrs. Strittmatter, who is now 59 years old and last worked in 1973 operating a small machine to assemble parts, has a variety of serious medical problems stemming mainly from two conditions--cataracts in both eyes, and scoliosis, the curvature of the spine that makes a person hunchbacked. As a result of her scoliosis (described by uncontradicted medical evidence as "very severe"), she has difficulty turning her neck and torso, continual pain in her back, chest, and shoulder, and some difficulty breathing. And although her cataracts were removed surgically she must wear very thick glasses and her peripheral vision is impaired.
After noting that one doctor had said, "I believe this patient, in spite of her scoliosis, could actually do a job, sitting down because her upper extremities are very functional," and after observing that Mrs. Strittmatter "has worked as a machine operator, spotter, divider, solderer, washer, scrubber, plater, and tester," the administrative law judge concluded that (Record references omitted.) This is the entire relevant portion of the administrative law judge's opinion.
There is no dispute that Mrs. Strittmatter's medical impairments, especially when viewed cumulatively, as they should be, 20 C.F.R. Sec. 404.1522; Bittel v. Richardson, 441 F.2d 1193, 1195 (3d Cir.1971), are severe within the meaning of the disability statute and regulations, and therefore satisfy one condition for obtaining disability benefits. Nevertheless, as we have noted, if she is physically capable of doing the type of work she has done in the past (whether or not she could actually find a job today), she cannot be found to be disabled. To determine whether she is physically capable of returning to her former work, the administrative law judge obviously must ascertain the demands of that work in relation to the claimant's present physical capacities, see 20 C.F.R. Sec....
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