Filed: Oct. 16, 2000
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: and Boudin, Circuit Judge.Melba N. Rivera-Camacho on brief for appellant.and record on appeal, we affirm the Commissioners decision.substantial evidence.F.2d 765 (1st Cir.condition, but concluded that it did not.weight fell twenty-six pounds shy of the requirement.
[NOT FOR PUBLICATION–NOT TO BE CITED AS PRECEDENT]
United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 99-2338
IRMA DONES-VAZQUEZ,
Plaintiff, Appellant,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,
Defendant, Appellee.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Juan M. Perez-Gimenez, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Selya, Circuit Judge,
Campbell, Senior Circuit Judge,
and Boudin, Circuit Judge.
Melba N. Rivera-Camacho on brief for appellant.
Guillermo Gil, United States Attorney, Lilliam E. Mendoza
Toro, Assistant United States Attorney, and Nancy B. Salafia,
Assistant Regional Counsel, Social Security Administration, on
brief for appellee.
October 13, 2000
Per Curiam. After carefully reviewing the briefs
and record on appeal, we affirm the Commissioner’s decision.
The administrative law judge (ALJ) was not obligated to
give controlling weight to the treating psychiatrist’s
opinion, inasmuch as the record contained conflicting
evidence. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.1527(d)(2). Moreover, the
ALJ’s finding of adequate mental status was supported by
substantial evidence. No more was exigible, though a
contrary conclusion might also have been reasonable. See,
e.g., Manso-Pizarro v. Secretary of Health and Human
Services,
76 F.3d 15 (1st Cir. 1996); Perez v. Secretary of
Health and Human Services,
958 F.2d 445 (1 st Cir. 1991);
Irlanda Oritz v. Secretary of Health and Human Services,
955
F.2d 765 (1st Cir. 1991).
We add that the medical expert properly considered
whether the appellant’s obesity qualified as a listed
condition, but concluded that it did not. The appellant’s
weight fell twenty-six pounds shy of the requirement. The
appellant also fails to make a plausible argument that her
combination of impairments equaled a listed condition. The
medical expert found no severe limitation in the range of
motion in her hips and knees, her weight was under the
listed minimum, and the ALJ reasonably concluded that her
mental status was not markedly limited. We need go no
further.
Affirmed. See Loc. R. 27 (c).
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