Tirado v. Bowen

• Decision Date: 10 March 1988
• Docket Number: No. 608,D,608
• Parties: , Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 15682A Margarita TIRADO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Otis R. BOWEN, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee. ocket 87-6225.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 595

842 F.2d 595

21 Soc.Sec.Rep.Ser. 78, Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 15682A

Margarita TIRADO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Otis R. BOWEN, Secretary of Health and Human Services Defendant-Appellee.

No. 608, Docket 87-6225.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued Feb. 10, 1988.

Decided March 10, 1988.

Scott L. Cagan, Arcadio J. Reyes, Law Interns, New York City (Peter Margulies, Supervising Atty., New York Law School, Federal Litigation Clinic, Michael L. Perlin, Director, New York City, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellant.

Sapna V. Raj, Sp. Asst. U.S. Atty., S.D.N.Y. (Nancy Kilson, Asst. U.S. Atty., Rudolph W. Giuliani, U.S. Atty. S.D.N.Y., of counsel), for defendant-appellee.

Before LUMBARD and CARDAMONE, Circuit Judges, and LEISURE, District Judge. ^*

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from the denial of disability benefits. The principal question before us is what disposition should be made when--after such a denial--the claimant for the first time on appeal presents new medical evidence to support her claim. We recognize, of course, that claimants ordinarily should have but one opportunity to prove entitlement to benefits, otherwise disability administrative proceedings would be an unending merry-go-round with no finality to administrative and judicial determinations. It is a truism nonetheless, that nothing is permanent except change, and for that reason room must be allowed in the process for the fact that a claimant's medical condition may not be fully diagnosed or comprehended at the time of her hearing.

Claimant Margarita Tirado appeals from a district court's judgment upholding the Secretary of Health and Human Services' denial of her application for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits under Title XVI of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1381-1383c (1982 & Supp. III 1986). Tirado first applied for SSI benefits on October 15, 1984 alleging that she has been disabled since June 1984 suffering from uncontrolled hypertension, asthma, dizzy spells, and gynecological complications.

After the denial of her initial application for benefits, claimant requested a rehearing. On September 9, 1985 an administrative law judge (ALJ) considered her claim de novo. Following the five-step analysis required by Social Security regulations, 20 C.F.R. Sec. 416.920 (1987), the ALJ concluded that Tirado was not "disabled" within the meaning of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1382c(a)(3)(A), and therefore denied her application for benefits. In response to claimant's request for review, the Department of Health and Human Services Appeals Council concluded on March 14, 1986 that there was no basis for overturning the ALJ's decision.

Appellant then challenged the Secretary's final decision in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Conner, J.). In its opinion and order dated July 2, 1987 the district court rejected appellant's arguments that the ALJ failed to weigh properly her subjective and objective evidence of pain; that the ALJ failed to develop a record and consequently erroneously found her asthma not disabling; that she was not adequately informed of her right to counsel at the hearing; that the ALJ should have called a vocational expert to assist him in assessing the availability of work suitable for Tirado.

DISCUSSION

I

Tirado's primary arguments on this appeal are that (1) the ALJ failed to state the findings with respect to Tirado's objective and subjective evidence of pain with sufficient specificity, (2) the ALJ erred by relying on vocational guidelines to assess her eligibility for work rather than using individualized evidence, and (3) the district court incorrectly concluded that she failed to meet the twelve-month durational requirement for SSI benefits.

Although the ALJ's finding that Tirado's "allegations of restricted activities were not persuasive" is hardly instructive, we cannot say in light of the slim evidence of pain before the ALJ that "we would be unable to fathom the ALJ's rationale in relation to evidence in the record." Berry v. Schweiker, 675 F.2d 464, 469 (2d Cir.1982). And, even given the ALJ's mischaracterization of appellant's mild asthma as an exertional rather than a nonexertional limitation, we conclude that this case did not call for the use of a vocational expert because there was substantial evidence before the ALJ to support the view that claimant's nonexertional impairments did not "significantly diminish" her work capacity beyond the restriction caused by her exertional impairments. See Bapp v. Bowen, 802 F.2d 601, 605-06 (2d Cir.1986). Finally, although the district court's finding that claimant's gynecological problem was stabilized after four months and was therefore not a disability for SSI purposes may not be supported by the record, it does not present a basis for reversing the district court's judgment sustaining the Secretary's determination.

II

Tirado's final argument is that her case should be remanded to the Secretary for consideration of new medical evidence. The new evidence, consisting of medical reports by a "team" of physicians from Bronx Municipal Hospital, was included in the joint appendix filed with this appeal but this is the first time the reports have been offered to support the claim. Tirado contends that although the Bronx Hospital team did not begin treating her until after her administrative hearing, their medical reports are nonetheless relevant to her claim of disability because they illustrate the depth of her illness which, although not fully diagnosed, existed at the time of her administrative hearing. More specifically, she...