Barrett v. Barnhart
By In the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- Release Date: 2004-01-22
- Genre: Law
Description
Linda Barrett appeals from the district courts affirmance of the denial by an administrative law judge of her application for social security disability benefits. Barrett, who was 39 years old at the time of her hearing before the administrative law judge and has a high school education, is extremely obese, weighing more than 300 pounds even though she is only 5 feet 1 inch tall. She also has a severe hearing loss in both ears, osteoarthritis in both knees, and numbness and pain in an arm and hand that may be due to carpal tunnel syndrome, although the administrative law judge did not think this a severe impairment; for that matter, he dismissed the significance of Barretts arthritic knees on the ground that her arthritis was "not so significant as to warrant surgery and is mainly exacerbated by her weight." He rejected a report by a physical therapist who had examined Barrett and had concluded that she was incapable of full-time work; the administrative law judge thought that Barrett had exaggerated her condition to the therapist. He determined that although Barrett cannot return to her previous work, which was straightening the tails of mink pelts on a mink ranch -- apparently a strenuous job -- she can do a wide range of other "light" work (not to be confused with sedentary work, see 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1567(a), (b)), including factory work, provided she doesnt have to stand for more than two hours at a time or sit for more than six hours at a time or lift more than 20 pounds frequently. The two-hour limitation on consecutive standing that the administrative law judge imposed was not based, directly anyway, on medical evidence. The only physician who specified limitations had advised that Barrett could stand for up to six hours at a time, but he had not known about the problem with her knees.
