Opinion ID: 783621
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Relevance of Alleged Resumption of Dr. Lasser's On-Call and Emergency Surgery Duties

Text: 38 Reliance argues that, even if emergency surgery and on-call duties are material, Dr. Lasser's resumption of these duties settles whether he is disabled from performing them. We disagree. First, because Dr. Lasser disputes that he has resumed performing these duties with the same frequency as before 1996, this issue involves a factual question that we do not resolve on appeal. Moreover, even assuming the facts as Reliance has alleged them, Dr. Lasser's physicians — as well as Dr. Field, on whose opinion Reliance has placed much weight — have advised that he should not perform these duties. Thus, there is substantial medical evidence that, if Dr. Lasser is performing on-call and emergency surgery duties, he is doing so to his detriment. Indeed, Dr. Lasser has argued that, to the extent that he has resumed these activities, he did so out of economic necessity — because Reliance discontinued his benefits. A claimant's return to work is not dispositive of his or her disability when economic necessity compels him or her to return to work. Hawkins v. First Union Corp. Long-Term Disability Plan, 326 F.3d 914, 918 (7th Cir.2003) (A desperate person might force himself to work despite an illness that everyone agreed was totally disabling.); Levinson v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 245 F.3d 1321, 1326 n. 6 (11th Cir.2001) (a claimant's status as a full-time employee should not constitute reliable evidence that he is able to perform the material duties of his occupation on a full-time basis); Stark v. Weinberger, 497 F.2d 1092 (7th Cir. 1974) (even if a claimant returns to work, her doing so does not mean she is not disabled). This principle is especially persuasive here, where Dr. Lasser's disability was not observable and did not make it physically impossible for him to perform his job for a limited period. 39