STL News reports, “The new ALJs will be brought on board in phases with the first hires reporting for duty in April, when they will begin an intensive orientation and training program.  While initially handling a reduced docket, newly hired ALJs should be scheduling a full docket of cases by the end of the year.” We can only hope so.

Social Security: Denial Of Benefits – Mental Disability – Medical Noncompliance

Pate-Fires v. Astrue (MLW No. 59069/Case No. 07-3561 – 22 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, Bye, J.)

Where an administrative law judge denied the application for disability benefits and supplemental security income of a claimant with mental impairments based on his determination that she could perform her past relevant work as a retail store stocker, the medical evidence proved that the claimant suffered from a severe mental impairment and could not engage in gainful employment, and the ALJ’s contrary conclusion was not supported by substantial evidence because the claimant’s treating doctor found her to be disabled and the ALJ improperly disregarded the doctor’s opinion based on his own conclusion that the claimant’s drug use and refusal to take her medicine precluded a finding of disability.
Judgment is reversed and remanded.

‘Playing doctor’

“The ALJ’s conclusion Pate-Fires’s medical noncompliance was not justifiable and precludes a finding of disability is not supported by substantial evidence. Further, the ALJ’s determination Pate-Fires’s medical noncompliance is attributable solely to free will is tantamount to the ALJ ‘playing doctor,’ a practice forbidden by law.”

Improper basis

Dissenting opinion by Shepherd, J.: “I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that remand for an immediate award of benefits is the appropriate remedy in this case. At step four of the sequential evaluation process, the ALJ decided that Pate-Fires retained the residual functional capacity to perform her past relevant work ‘The majority finds that the ALJ reached this step-four conclusion in error. Specifically, the ALJ relied on an improper basis to reject Dr. Erby’s opinion, and substantial evidence did not support the ALJ’s conclusion that Pate-Fires’s medical noncompliance precluded a finding of disability’ To the extent the majority’s decision to reverse the judgment of the district court is based on these errors in the ALJ’s step-four analysis, I concur.”

Judgment is reversed and remanded.
y claim.

RIO RANCHO, N.M., May. 14, 2009
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Below is a recent article regarding the possibility that disability benifits may soon increase.

(AP) President Barack Obama says he likes the idea of increasing income limits for those receiving Social Security disability payments, but also says it costs money.

Obama on Thursday told a town hall-style meeting in New Mexico that he is open to giving federal disability payments to more people. But he said it has to be part of a broader review of government entitlements, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

He says changing entitlement programs is a major piece in his plan to rein in federal spending. He says his team is going through the budget line by line to eliminate waste.

Obama says that disability claims have gone up during the economic downturn.
submitted by Jeff Swaney FREE CONSULTATION 314-481-7778