Opinion ID: 183961
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dr. Lichtblau

Text: Dr. Lichtblau is a board-certified physiatrist who examined Mr. Butler to prepare a medical functional capacity assessment dated August 16, 2007. 2 Dr. France did opine that Mr. Butler was suffering “the physiological and emotional aspects of depression.” Aplt. App. at 271. The ALJ interpreted this opinion to be a diagnosis of “mild depression associated with pain,” consistent with the agency psychological expert’s opinion. Id. at 25. Ultimately, the ALJ concluded that Mr. Butler’s depression was less than severe. Mr. Butler does not argue that the ALJ erred in finding his depression not to be a severe impairment. Thus, this area of potential disagreement is not relevant to our analysis. -11- Dr. Lichtblau’s tests showed that Mr. Butler could lift ninety-nine pounds from knee to hips, eighty-three pounds from hips to shoulder, and fifty-three pounds from shoulder to overhead. The doctor opined that Mr. Butler would not be able to work four hours per day on an uninterrupted basis; he should have a job that allowed him to change positions frequently, at will; he should avoid activities such as bending, kneeling, squatting, climbing, reaching, running, and jumping; and he would have “good days, bad days and missed days of work” due to “acute, intermittent exacerbations of pain and discomfort.” Aplt. App. at 386. Finally, he opined that “this patient will not be able to maintain gainful employment . . . secondary to acute, intermittent exacerbations of pain and discomfort.” Id. The ALJ gave significant weight to Dr. Lichtblau’s functional test results, but gave no weight to his opinion that Mr. Butler could not sustain full-time work. The ALJ noted the “opinion rests heavily on the credibility of the claimant because he finds the claimant disabled by expected exacerbations of pain in apparent contradiction to the actual capacity as shown in his tests which appear to show lifting capacity between light and medium.” Id. at 28; see also id. at 33. Mr. Butler argues that Dr. Lichtblau’s opinion is based on medical records and his own examination in addition to Mr. Butler’s reports, and thus it is misleading to characterize the opinion as based on Mr. Butler’s descriptions of his pain. The ALJ recognized that there is medical evidence of impairments that can reasonably be expected to cause pain. The extent of such pain, however, is -12- necessarily subjective, at least in part. Dr. Lichtblau’s report indicates that his opinions as to the extent of pain were based in large part on Mr. Butler’s reports to him. And as discussed above, the ALJ’s decision to discount a medical opinion based on his evaluation of Mr. Butler’s credibility is not reversible error. Mr. Butler also suggests that the ALJ could not accept Dr. Lichtblau’s characterizations of Mr. Felix’s report while simultaneously discounting Dr. Lichtblau’s opinions as to Mr. Butler’s functional capacity. These are two separate issues, however; one is factual while the other is opinion. And as for the factual aspect, as stated above, there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of Dr. Lichtblau’s descriptions of the Felix report.