Source: http://pa.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20180205_0000820.MPA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 06:15:31+00:00

Document:
In undertaking this analysis we are cautioned that we examine the ALJ's decision against a very deferential standard of review, one which is limited to addressing the question of whether the findings of the ALJ are supported by substantial evidence in the record. See 42 U.S.C. § 405(g); Johnson v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., 529 F.3d 198, 200(3d Cir. 2008); Ficca v. Astrue, 901 F.Supp.2d 533, 536(M.D. Pa. 2012). Substantial evidence “does not mean a large or considerable amount of evidence, but rather such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U.S. 552, 565 (1988). Rather, “substantial evidence” is less than a preponderance of the evidence but more than a mere scintilla. Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401 (1971).
This matter has been referred to the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge to prepare a report and recommended disposition pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. §636(b) and Rule 72(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Jurisdiction is conferred on this Court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §405(g). Given the deferential standard of review that applies to Social Security Appeals, which calls upon us simply to determine whether substantial evidence supports the ALJ's findings, we conclude that substantial evidence exists in this case which justified the ALJ's decisions that led to the denial of this particular claim. Therefore, for the reasons set forth below, we recommend that the district court affirm the decision of the Commissioner in this case.
David Deiter's disability application stems from the medical complications Deiter experienced following two mishaps. The first of these mishaps took place in October of 2008 when Dieter, who worked as a roofer, suffered multiple injuries in a fall from a roof.
During the period when he experienced the alleged onset of this disability in 2012, Deiter received episodic, and fairly conservative, medical care. Moreover after 2013, it appeared that Deiter received no further on-going care for his 2008 injuries, and only resumed active medical care after his August 2014 injury in which he fell through a plate glass window. From October 2008 through January 2013, Deiter was seen and treated by a primary care physician, Dr. Darhun, on approximately six occasions. (Tr. 338-357.) During these encounters Dr. Darhun generally documented that Deiter was doing well and feeling okay, although in 2012 and 2013, Deiter began increasingly complaining of pain following his work as a roofer. (Id.) Dr. Darhun's clinical encounters with Deiter, however, were infrequent, and episodic, and the treatment he prescribed was both conservative and limited to pain-management through medication. (Id.) Further, it appears that Deiter was not seen or treated by Dr. Darhun after 2013. Although Dr. Darhun did not see or treat Dieter after January 2013, both in 2013 and later in 2015, Dr. Darhun opined that Deiter was totally disabled. (Tr. 353-358; 547-48.) The clinical basis for these opinions was unclear from Dr. Darhun's own medical records, and the doctor's 2015 opinion was rendered some two years after the physician's last documented clinical encounter with Deiter.
Deiter was seen and treated by Dong Ko, M.D., a practitioner at Comprehensive Pain Centers, for eighteen months between winter 2011 and summer 2013. (Tr. 415-40.) Dr. Ko treated Deiter's reported chronic pain with Percocet, Ibuprofen, and nerve block injections. (Tr. 415-16, 418-19, 421-22, 424-25, 427-28, 430-31, 432-33, 434-35, 437-38 440, 441, 443.) On a ten-point scale, Deiter rated his pain as ranging between 3/10 and 6/10 during the period of treatment (Tr. 415-16, 434-35, 441-43.) During that period, Deiter's medication regimen did not change, and physical examinations were largely consistent-they were normal but for limited range of motion on the right side, diminished strength to the right, and limited abduction and external rotation on the right side. In addition, Dr. Ko noted some tenderness and limited flexion and rotation in the spine. (Tr. 415-16, 418-19, 421-22, 424-25, 427-28, 430-31, 432-33, 434-35, 437- 38, 440, 441, 443.) Dr. Ko's treatment records also consistently documented that Deiter was not in acute distress and indicated that Deiter was stable on the medication regimen prescribed for him. (Id.) Deiter ceased treating with Dr. Ko in July 2013, and there is no further record of pain management care for Deiter.
Chronic pain due to injuries from 25 ft. fall, pain from left acetabular fracture, left inferior ramus fracture, rib fractures R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, C8T1, L8 & L9, nerve root injury, sternum fracture, right transverse process fractures 1-9, shoulder separation, torn tendon, sternoclavicular dislocation, severe sternum and right posterior rib pain, numbness in right hand, scarred diaphragm, high blood pressure, drowsiness, and since I take pain medications on a daily basis, I have balance issues from the fall in 2008.
Along with his disability application, Deiter submitted an Adult Function Report which described his activities of daily living. (Tr. 147-154.) While this report was plainly prepared to describe Deiter's subjective sense of his own physical limitations, the report was signed by Deiter's wife. (Id.) A fair reading of the report, however, reveals that it is not a third-party medical report, but rather is simply a transcription of Deiter's own subjective limitations, prepared by Deiter's spouse but intended to describe Deiter's own sense of his physical state.
Following the hearing, on March 13, 2015, the ALJ issued a decision denying Deiter's application for disability benefits. (Tr. 12-30.) In this decision, the ALJ first found that Deiter met the insured requirements of the Act through December 31, 2017. (Tr. 17.) At Step 2 of the five-step sequential analysis that applies to Social Security disability claims, the ALJ concluded that from his alleged onset date through February 2013, Deiter experienced the following severe impairments: history of closed rib fractures in 2008, costochondritis, and brachial plexus injury. (Tr. 17.) From February 2013 through August 2014, the ALJ concluded that Deiter experienced the following severe impairments: cervical degenerative disc disease and thoracic degenerative disc disease with protrusions.

References: § 405
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 §636
 §405