Medical Improvement

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Statistics from the Social Security Administration show that some Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”) have a significantly lower approval rate than other ALJs. ALJ Seymour Fier only had an approval rate of 33% for 2008, which is less than half that of other ALJs, including those at the same hearing office. Just because ALJ Fier labels his decision “fully favorable,” doesn’t mean that it actually is.

ALJ Fier issued a fully favorable decision to a clothing salesman who was 48 years old when he became disabled due to very severe asthma and cardiovascular disease. At the hearing, the ALJ had the medical expert (“ME”) testify before the claimant, and the ME concluded the claimant could not do sedentary work. When I stated that I only had a few questions for the ME because he could confirm that the claimant met two of the listings for pulmonary impairments, the ALJ stated that it was not necessary in light of the ME’s testimony.

The ALJ’s “fully favorable” decision states that the claimant should be re-evaluated in 24 months because “medical improvement is expected.” None of the medical evidence supports that statement. To the contrary, the treating doctors stated that the claimant’s conditions are permanent and progressive. While there is no doubt that the claimant’s condition will continue to deteriorate, the issue of medical improvement should not have been an issue if the ME had been allowed to testify regarding the claimant meeting a pulmonary listing.

Previous Next