Opinion ID: 585576
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Increase in Residual Functional Capacity

Text: 26 The second problem with the ALJ's focus on the success of the 1987 surgery is that nothing in the record connects the attainment of a solid fusion with an increase in Sparhawk's ability to work as a drill bit or moulding machine operator. Disability benefits cannot be terminated unless the claimant's medical improvement is accompanied by an actual increase in residual functional capacity. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1594(b)(2). In other words, the evidence had to show that Sparhawk's medical improvement (if any) is positively related to her ability to work. See id. 27 In this case, nothing in the record indicates that the vertebrae fusion sufficiently alleviated Sparhawk's condition to permit her to sit for six or seven hours a day on a hard stool and pump pedals, which is what she will have to do as a drill bit or moulding machine operator. To the contrary, what evidence does exist on this issue consists of Sparhawk's unrebutted testimony that back, leg, neck, and shoulder pain precludes her from sitting for more than an hour and a half at a time (or for more than twenty minutes at a time on a hard chair). 28 In his opinion, the ALJ states that Sparhawk's improvement related to her ability to work was evidenced in the reports of her treating physicians. 1 However, nothing in the record, and specifically nothing in either Dr. Newby's or Dr. Snodgrass's reports, evaluates Sparhawk's ability after the fusion surgery to sit, stand, walk, lift, pull, or pump pedals. The ALJ cites three exhibits as supporting evidence, but not one of these reports evaluates Sparhawk's capacity to perform job-related functions. They simply discuss the successful fusion and prescribe treatment for Sparhawk's continuing pain. Apparently, the ALJ simply inferred from the evidence of a successful fusion a concomitant increase in Sparhawk's ability to work. The ALJ may not, however, set himself up as an expert on improvement in functional capacity. Cf. Burkhart, 856 F.2d at 1341 (reversible error for ALJ to assume[ ] the role of vocational expert himself). Consequently, we hold that the record lacks substantial evidence to support the ALJ's conclusion that Sparhawk's medical improvement sufficiently increased her residual functional capacity to permit her to work as a drill bit or moulding machine operator.