JOSEPH N. LAPLANTE, Chief District Judge.
Esmerelda Carrion has appealed the Social Security Administration's denial of her applications for a period of disability, disability insurance benefits, and Supplemental Security Income, which claimed an onset date of February 2010. An administrative law judge at the SSA ("ALJ") ruled that, despite Carrion's severe impairments (including,
The Appeals Council later denied Carrion's request for review of the ALJ's decision,
Carrion has filed a motion to reverse the decision.
Carrion argues that this finding was erroneous because, in October 2011, she received an IQ score of 76—but on a test with a standard error of measurement such that, according to the psychologist who administered the test, Carrion's IQ "scores would likely fall between 70 and 82, 95% of the time." Carrion does not explain how this translates into what the listing requires, i.e., "[a] valid verbal, performance, or full scale IQ of 60 through 70." In any event, as the Commissioner points out, a number of courts have rejected the notion that, in determining whether a claimant's IQ meets the mental retardation listing, an ALJ must account for the margin of error in the IQ test results.
In the absence of any contrary authority from either the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit or this court—or any developed argument by Carrion—this court finds the reasoning of
Instead, the ALJ gave "considerable weight" to the opinions of Dr. Jessica Stera, a psychologist who evaluated Carrion on referral from a social worker from the same office as Turnbull. Stera found that Carrion had "some difficulty" or "some trouble" in social functioning, understanding and remembering instructions, sustaining attention, reacting to stress, and adapting to work or work-like situations, but did not identify episodes of decompensation or any other disabling limitations. Based on Stera's findings, the ALJ found that Carrion retained the RFC for medium work, limited, in relevant part, to "simple, routine, and repetitive tasks performed in a work environment free of fast-paced production requirements," "tasks involving only simple work related decisions and simple workplace changes," outside of "an intense team environment" or "a retail or fast-paced environment, or where she would deal with individuals she did not see on a regular basis."
Carrion argues that "[a]lthough the ALJ gave reasons for rejecting Dr. Turnbull's opinion, he did not give reasons in accordance with the proper standard." The "proper standard," as Carrion acknowledges, requires an ALJ to give controlling weight to the opinions of a treating physician only "[i]f [the ALJ] find[s] that a treating source's opinion on the issue(s) of the nature and the severity of [the claimant's] impairment(s) is well-supported by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques and is not inconsistent with the other substantial evidence in [her] case record." 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1527(d)(2), 416.927(d)(2).
The ALJ's ruling that Turnbull's opinion was entitled to little weight because it was unsupported by both his own treatment notes and the evidence of Carrion's activities of daily living comports with this standard.
Carrion does not point to anything in Turnbull's treatment notes that, even in her view, supports his opinions as to her psychological limitations.
But this minor error does little if anything to undermine the ALJ's conclusion that Turnbull's treatment notes do not support his opinions as to Carrion's disabling limitations. Again, Carrion has not identified any such support in Turnbull's notes. The account of Carrion's treatment with Turnbull set forth in the parties' joint statement of material facts—which, by rule, must "describe all facts pertinent to the resolution of the case," L.R. 9.3(d)—says simply that he "monitored [her] medication progress," "recommended [she] undergo neuropsychological cognitive testing," "prescribed monthly medical monitoring and individual therapy," and that his "assessment of [Carrion's] overall condition was that she remained the same, or had improved" (citations omitted).
This state of affairs provides a ready response to Carrion's complaint in her motion to reverse that the ALJ "does not once quote from Dr. Turnbull's own treatment notes": neither does Carrion. It stands to reason that those notes do not in fact provide any support for Turnbull's opinions but, regardless, the court is disinclined to wade through medical records (rendered in handwriting that—as Carrion acknowledges—is difficult if not impossible to decipher) which Carrion herself has not seen fit to meaningfully summarize in the joint statement of facts.
Furthermore, Carrion does not claim that Hoskins's notes (to which the ALJ mistakenly referred as Turnbull's) provide any support for Turnbull's opinions either. As the ALJ found—and the joint statement of facts expressly states—Hoskins's progress notes do indeed "reveal that [Carrion's] mood/affect, thought process/orientation, and behavior/functioning were within normal limits."
According to the joint statement of facts, Carrion testified that "she experienced depression and anxiety" and "had poor concentration," and "reported back problems" and "shoulder pain." The court assumes (since Carrion's motion does not specify) that these are the allegations she believes the ALJ should have found fully credible.
In explaining why he did not, however, the ALJ noted that Carrion "was consistently described as exhibiting normal speech, thought process, motor sensorium and behavior" as well as "normal insight and judgment on many occasions." Carrion faults this finding because, as the record support for it, the ALJ referred to one page of an assessment form completed when Carrion began treating with Turnbull and Hoskins, in April 2010. But—as already discussed at length—the treatment notes that followed the initial assessment indeed show, as Carrion has stipulated, "that [her] mood/affect, thought process/orientation, and behavior/functioning were within normal limits." And the ALJ specifically referred to some of these treatment notes in explaining why he did not fully credit Carrion's "alleged disabling mental health symptoms." It is unclear what else Carrion believes was required, by way of explanation, but, in the court's view, the ALJ's explanation was more than adequate.
The same is true of the ALJ's treatment of Carrion's claimed physicial limitations, as to which the ALJ found "the objective evidence is completely lacking." While Carrion's motion to reverse refers to her treatment for "pain throughout her body and in particular her lower extremities, including bilateral knee pain and groin pain" by a Dr. Geoffrey Lund, she does not explain how that supports her testimony as to "back problems" and "shoulder pain," nor does she point to anything else in the record that does.
The ALJ also found that Carrion's "activities of daily living support the mental and physical ability to perform at least simple medium exertion work." This finding is supportable if not inevitable. As the joint statement of facts indicates, Carrion testified that "she was currently working 25 hours per week at a hotel . . . five days a week, five hours per day."
While Carrion points out, correctly, that a claimant's ability to work part-time cannot itself support a ruling that she is not disabled (which requires the ability to work 40 hours a week or the equivalent),
Based on the foregoing, Carrion's motion to reverse the ALJ's decision (document no. 11) is DENIED, and the Commissioner's motion to affirm that decision (document no. 14) is GRANTED.