Record failed to contain sufficient evidence to support ALJ’s denial of claimant’s application for Social Security disability benefits arising out of claimant’s brain hemorrhage, as well as her short-term memory loss, ADHD, anxiety and fibromyalgia. While ALJ believed that claimant had good recovery from brain hemorrhage, that her seizure condition was well controlled, and that claimant engaged in wide range of daily activities that permitted her to work as counter clerk, cashier or routing clerk, record showed that, since onset of her disabilities, claimant worked only part-time jobs that required that claimant receive help from her co-workers. Moreover, record contained corroborative testimony from claimant’s fiancé that was not addressed by ALJ, and ALJ improperly discounted opinions from claimant’s treating physicians/psychiatrists regarding claimant's inability to perform gainful employment, in favor of agency consultants who had never examined claimant.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Social Security