Wood v. Colvin

• Decision Date: 17 December 2013
• Docket Number: No. 10–cv–00477 (WGY).,10–cv–00477 (WGY).
• Citation: 987 F.Supp.2d 180
• Parties: Keith W. WOOD, Plaintiff, v. Carolyn W. COLVIN, Acting Commissioner, Social Security Administration, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

987 F.Supp.2d 180

Keith W. WOOD, Plaintiff,

v.Carolyn W. COLVIN, Acting Commissioner, Social Security Administration, Defendant.

No. 10–cv–00477 (WGY).

United States District Court,

N.D. New York.

Dec. 17, 2013.

Joanna S. Davis, Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Saratoga Springs, NY, for Plaintiff.

Thomas C. Gray, Social Security Administration, New York, NY, for Defendant.

DECISION AND ORDER

WILLIAM G. YOUNG, District Judge.¹

I. INTRODUCTION

Keith Wood (“Wood”) brings this action pursuant to section 205(g) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), seeking judicial review of the final decision of the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (“Commissioner”) denying him Social Security Disability Insurance (“SSDI”) benefits.² Wood challenges the determination of an Administrative Law Judge (the “hearing officer”) that Wood is not disabled under sections 216(i) and 223(d) of the Social Security Act. Wood requests that the Court reverse the Commissioner's decision and order a calculation of benefits in accordance with the requirements of the Social Security Act, or, alternatively, vacate the decision of the hearing officer and remand the matter for further proceedings. Compl. 6, ECF No. 1; Pl.'s Br. 18, ECF No. 13. The Commissioner requests that the Court grant her motion for judgment on the pleadings and affirm her decision that Wood is not entitled to disability insurance benefits.³ Def.'s Br. Pursuant Gen. Order No. 18 (“Def.'s Br.”) 17, ECF No. 16.

A. Procedural Posture

Wood applied for SSDI benefits on February 8, 2007, Admin. R. at 14,⁴ with a protective filing date of the same day,⁵id. at 120; see also Pl.'s Br. 4. On May 29, 2007, the Regional Commissioner denied Wood's claim. Admin. R. at 52–55. Wood timely filed a request on June 14, 2007 for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge to challenge the Regional Commissioner's denial. Id. at 57. A hearing was held on April 8, 2009, at which Wood appeared accompanied by legal aid counsel. Id. at 14, 286–312. A vocational expert, Julie Andrews (“Andrews”), was scheduled to appear at the hearing telephonically, however she was unable to do so. Id. at 311. A supplemental hearing was therefore held on June 5, 2009, at which Andrews appeared telephonically. Id. at 14, 27–50. On July 6, 2009, the hearing officer issued a decision finding Wood not disabled and upholding the denial of benefits. Id. at 14–22. Wood timely filed a request on July 14, 2009 for the Social Security Appeals Council to review the hearing officer's decision. Id. at 9–10. On March 5, 2010, the Appeals Council denied Wood's request for review. Id. at 1–3.

On April 23, 2010, Wood filed the present action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g) and 1383(c)(3). Compl. 1–2. The Commissioner filed an answer on August 9, 2010, Def.'s Answer, ECF No. 7, and both sides subsequently filed briefs with the Court, Pl.'s Br; Def.'s Br. On February 3, 2012, the case was reassigned to this Court. Reassignment Order.

B. Facts of Record

Wood was born in 1960 and was forty-six years old when he applied for SSDI benefits. Admin. R. at 103. After dropping out of school after complesixth grade, Wood began working a variety of jobs involving manual labor outdoors. Id. at 292–310. Wood never received any further education or formal job training. Id. at 292. In the summer of 2005, Wood's physical ailments began interfering with his ability to perform his duties as a cemetery custodian and snow-plow operator for the Town of Horicon, New York. Id. at 124, 210. On October 25, 2006, after approximately eighteen years of employment with Horicon, Wood resigned due to severe pain in his feet and legs. Id. at 292–93, 303.

1. Physical Impairments

a. Diabetes Mellitus with Sensory Neuropathy

The primary physical ailment for which Wood has sought medical treatment is sensory neuropathy in his feet, resulting from type 2 diabetes, which has caused pain in his feet and legs. In the month following Wood's resignation from his job with Horicon, Wood went to the Chester–Horicon Health Center three times seeking treatment from the Hudson Headwaters Health Network (“HHHN”) for the pain in his feet. See id. at 178–79, 181. Wood complained that his feet were “[e]ven painful when he [was] off them,” and that the pain was worse “when walking on concrete floors.” Id. at 179. HHHN medical records indicate that Wood was diagnosed as being morbidly obese and as having diabetes mellitus, which caused Wood to develop sensory neuropathy in his feet and legs. Id. at 176–81, 242–58.

Over the next three years, Wood consistently complained of the pain in his feet and legs to his primary care physician at HHHN, John Rugge, M.D., (“Dr. Rugge”). See id. at 237, 241–58 (HHHN Primary Care Progress Notes documenting Wood's appointments from September 2007 to February 2009). A May 7, 2008 diabetic foot exam at HHHN revealed that Wood could only feel one of ten points tested on each of his feet, and that he only had feeling on the dorsum of his feet. Id. at 253. During the exam, Wood reported numbness in all of the toes on his left foot and in the hallux of his right foot. Id. Wood described “sharp anterior pain through [his] lower [left] leg up to [his] knee” and similar pain in his right leg. Id. Dr. Rugge noted that both of Wood's feet had “deformed shape” and that the pain was due, in part, to “mechanics,” including “weight burden” and “footshape.” Id. It appears that Wood initially was prescribed Amitriptyline for the pain in his feet, and HHHN staff noted in November 2007 that Wood was taking “prescribed meds for pain in feet.” ⁶Id. at 128, 175, 256. HHHN records indicate that by 2008, however, Wood was no longer taking any prescribed medication for the pain in his feet.⁷Id. at 250, 252, 255. Throughout the entire period in question, Wood took Tylenol for the pain but it provided him with little to no relief. See id. at 242–43, 249, 254, 257, 282. HHHN Physician's Assistant Bill Orlott prescribed Wood a cane to assist Wood with walking. Id. at 297.

To treat Wood's diabetes, Dr. Rugge prescribed Wood Glipizide and Metformin, as well as Lantus, a daily injection of insulin. Id. at 128, 296. Nonetheless, from 2007 to 2009, HHHN staff noted that Wood's diabetes was not well controlled. Id. at 250, 274. Wood admitted to HHHN staff that he had failed to exercise or abide by the diabetic diet Dr. Rugge had recommended. Id. at 175, 246, 253, 255.

On April 24, 2007, Dr. Rugge conducted a physical examination of Wood in which he recorded Wood as 6'3?, 400 pounds and listed Wood's treating diagnoses as diabetes with sensory neuropathy, morbid obesity, and “broken down feet.” Id. at 188. Dr. Rugge noted that Wood had been unable to work due to those ailments since October 2006 and stated that Wood's prognosis for recovery was “poor.” Id. at 189. Dr. Rugge noted that Wood was “mostly sedentary” during the day, averaging about an hour and a half on his feet per day, and that Wood's ability to function in a work setting was “OK [except] for his leg [and] foot pain.” ⁸Id. at 194. After assessing Wood's ability to perform workrelated physical activities, Dr. Rugge stated that Wood could occasionally lift fifteen pounds, sit without limitation, and push or pull, including hand and foot controls, without limitation, but that Wood's ability to stand or walk was limited to less than two hours per day. Id. at 195.

On April 27, 2007, Kenneth D. Stein, M.D., (“Dr. Stein”) conducted a consultativephysical examination of Wood. Id. at 210–12. Wood made the same complaints to Dr. Stein regarding the pain in his feet, telling Dr. Stein that being on his feet felt like “walking barefoot on gravel.” Id. at 210. Wood reported having pain in his feet even when sitting, but “described more of an achy burning pain” in those instances. Id. Dr. Stein noted that Wood's weight was greater than 350 pounds and characterized Wood's posture as “normal,” and his gait as “slow.” Id. at 211. During the neurological portion of the exam, Dr. Stein found that Wood “had decreased sensation on the plantar surface of the left foot including vibratory sense,” but that the “[r]est of sensation [was] bilaterally symmetrical to light touch.” Id. Dr. Stein concluded that Wood had “developed bilateral foot neuropathy causing moderate-to-severe foot pain especially when he is on his feet for more than an hour and a half.” Id.

On May 24, 2007, a Social Security Administration disability examiner examined Wood and reviewed the medical evidence of Wood's alleged disability. Id. at 231–36. The examiner concluded that Wood's claim that he could walk and stand only for an hour before needing to rest was “consistent with the assessment,” and that Wood's claim of having difficulty climbing stairs was also supported by medical evidence. Id. at 234–35. The disability examiner, however, rejected Dr. Rugge's conclusion that Wood's ability to stand and walk was limited to less than two hours per day. Id. at 232, 235. Instead, the disability examiner concluded that Wood could stand or walk with normal breaks for a total of at least two hours during an eight-hour workday, reasoning that Wood had “an effective gait as well as full motor strength.” Id. at 232, 235.

b. Other Impairments

Wood suffered from a variety of other ailments, albeit with less persistent and debilitating symptoms than the sensory neuropathy. Dr. Rugge diagnosed Wood with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hypercholestermia, id. at 178–79, 198, 210–11, 237, 241–43, 246, 248, 253, 255, 257–58, 272, and prescribed Lisinopril, Lovastatin, and Hydrochlorothiazide for those conditions. Id. at 128, 210, 296. Wood has a history of gastroesophageal reflux and Barrett's esophagitis, id. at 268–71, and was prescribed Prevacid and Omeprazole to control his acid reflux. Id. at 128, 210, 296. On April 3, 2009, Wood was diagnosed by HHHN staff with “lateral epicondylitis” in his left elbow and received a cortisone injection for the...