Court Opinion

ID: 9495681
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:08:25.382627+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:09.177556
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Although I agree with the majority’s analysis in part I, I respectfully dissent, because Ms. Curran-Kicksey’s claim should not have been denied.
The ALJ determined in her September 10, 1999 decision that the opinions of Dr. Lynn Demarco and Dr. William Baird should be given more weight than Dr. George Lawry’s, because they were “in keeping with the evidence as a whole.” The ALJ subsequently found the claimant’s condition did not meet or equal listing 1.05C, and denied her relief on that basis. The ALJ made this determination after acknowledging that Drs. Demarco and Baird had not actually examined Ms. Curran-Kicksey, but had only reviewed the record. Conversely, although Dr. Lawry personally examined and treated Ms. Curran-Kicksey, and stated an opinion as to her ability to work, the ALJ discounted Dr. Lawry’s opinion because she believed it did not reflect the medical evidence in the record. There is no analysis offered to support this conclusion.
This court has held that when adjudicating a grant or denial of social security disability benefits, full consideration must be given to “all of the evidence presented relating to subjective complaints, including the claimant’s prior work record, and observations by third parties and treating and examining physicians.” Polaski v. Heckler, 739 F.2d 1320, 1322 (8th Cir.1984) (emphasis added). Further, “opinions of doctors who have not examined the claimant ordinarily do not constitute substantial evidence on the record as a whole.” Bowman v. Barnhart, 310 F.3d 1080, 1085 (8th Cir.2002) (quoting Nevland v. Apfel, 204 F.3d 853, 858 (8th Cir.2000)). The ALJ in this case appears to rely “on the opinions of non-treating, non-examining physicians who reviewed the reports of the treating physicians to form an opinion” of their own. Nevland, 204 F.3d at 858. What is particularly bizarre is that the ALJ determined that Dr. Lawry’s opinion was not in keeping with the record as a whole, despite the fact that Dr. Lawry’s examination and expressed opinions were part of the medical record. If anything, the opinions *971of Drs. Demarco and Baird were not “in keeping” with the record, and therefore do not constitute reasonable grounds for denying Ms. Curran-Kicksey’s application. We are obligated to follow the established principle that examining physicians’ opinions should be given greater deference than the opinions of physicians who simply review other physicians’ records. See Bowman, 310 F.3d at 1085; Nevland, 204 F.3d at 858; Polaski, 739 F.2d at 1322.
Polaski requires an adjudicator to consider all the evidence relating to the claimant’s condition. Relevant factors include: the claimant’s daily activities; the duration, frequency and intensity of the pain; precipitating and aggravating factors; dosage, effectiveness and side effects of medication; and functional restrictions. Polaski, 739 F.2d at 1322. In reviewing the ALJ’s decision, it appears that she gave Polaski mere lip service.
First, the ALJ concluded that Ms. Cur-ran-Kicksey was not limited in her daily activities: “[t]hough the claimant certainly experiences limitations in her abilities to perform activities of daily living, the claimant does admit that she can cook, likes to read, still visits with Mends, and still drives her car at least locally in the Quad Cities area.” As an initial matter, I note the accusatory tone the ALJ takes in suggesting that Ms. Curran-Kicksey “admitted” she can cook, likes to read, and still visits friends and drives her car. This is not a criminal proceeding, and Ms.Curran-Kicksey is not a defendant. More importantly, however, this court repeatedly held that the activities to which the ALJ points do not support a finding that the claimant is able to do sedentary work in an competitive economy on a day-to-day basis. See Thomas v. Sullivan, 876 F.2d 666, 669 (8th Cir.1989) (“The ability to do light housework with assistance, attend church, or visit with Mends on the phone does not qualify as the ability to do substantial gainful activity.”); McCoy v. Schweiker, 683 F.2d 1138, 1147 (8th Cir.1982) (en banc) (holding that the ability to do sedentary work “is the ability to perform the requisite physical acts day in and day out, in the sometimes competitive and stressful conditions in which real people work in the real world”).
Next, as the majority notes, the ALJ found that:
[Ms. Curran-Kicksey] testified before the ALJ that her need to lie down and rest throughout the day prevented her from working full-time. She did not, however, make this complaint to her doctors, nor did her doctors recommend such a course of action to her. In fact, as a response to Ms. Curran-Kicksey’s complaints of disturbed sleep, her doctors actually instructed her to avoid taking naps and to exercise more often.
Supra, at 969. I do not think the record supports this conclusion. On June 26, 1995, Dr. David Staub noted that Ms. Cur-ran-Kicksey reported “ongoing fatigue.” This language would indicate Ms. Curran-Kicksey’s need to rest during the day, and that she told her doctors about her fatigue. It is patently unreasonable to require Ms. Curran-Kicksey to explicitly say “I cannot work during the day without rest” in order to find her testimony credible. Again, the ALJ appears unreasonably biased against Ms. Curran-Kicksey.
The ALJ next found that Ms. Curran-Kicksey declined a course of physical therapy that was offered to her. While it is true that Dr. Staub “offered to get her involved in a course of physical therapy to include iontophoresis and phonophoresis,” and that Ms. Curran-Kicksey “did not want to pursue this,” Dr. Staub also reported that Ms. Curran-Kicksey “has been forcing herself to walk for two miles” up to four times each week. The ALJ clearly ignored the fact that Ms. Curran-Kicksey had participated in extensive physical ther*972apy over a period of years in an unsuccessful effort to advance her physical condition to the point where she could return to work on a full-time basis.3
The ALJ made other significant mistakes. The majority correctly notes that the ALJ “may have overstated the significance of the private disability payments, since Ms. Curran-Kicksey’s private disability benefits would be offset by any disability payments by the SSA.” Supra, at 969. There was no evidence to support the ALJ’s position regarding the private disability payments or the pending lawsuit. It was simply rank speculation on the part of the ALJ which comes close to showing bias on her part. Unfortunately, the majority does not extend its analysis to a whole-scale inquiry of why such obvious mistakes were overlooked by the ALJ. I do not think a decision that is rife with factual errors warrants a finding that the ALJ’s determination is supported by substantial evidence.
For the foregoing reasons, I dissent.

. See Administrative Record, at 152 (Dr. Timothy Millea, notes, October 17, 1994) ("She is continuing with occasional chiropractic as well as physical therapy.”); 154 (Dr. Timothy Millea, notes, Dec. 5, 1994) ( "At the current time she is involved in physical therapy in the morning....”); 155 (Dr. Timothy Millea, notes, Jan. 4, 1995) ( "She is continuing with chiropractic care once a week as well as physical therapy three times a week. However she states that her symptoms are not improving and that she has had worsening of her symptoms over the past few weeks.”); 158 (Dr. Timothy Millea, notes, March 27, 1995) ("She is going to the Y on a regular basis for aquatic therapy and feels that she is tolerating this particularly in view of improved aerobic conditioning. She also works with physical therapy at NovaCare on a two times per week basis including ultra sound, IFC and whirlpool therapy.”); 165 (Dr. Timothy Miller, notes, March 8, 1995) ("She is currently doing at least one hour of exercise per day.”); 167 (Dr. Timothy Miller, notes, May 17, 1995) ("She has been staying very active continuing with her home exercise as well as working at the Y with swimming exercises and walking a mile and a half a day.”); 171 (Dr. David Staub, notes, June 26, 1995) ("She is trying to exercise regularly despite this as she recognizes the importance of regular exercise....”); 189 (Letter from Dr. Arthur Searle to Brad Church, Nov. 30, 1995) ("The client was walking up to two miles at a time until two months ago. In the past two months she hasn’t been able to tolerate any exercise except in a swimming pool.”); 406 (Dr. David Staub, notes, Feb. 13, 1997) ("She is currently doing hydrotherapy at Truman.”).