Administrative – Social Security Disability – RFC – Depression & Crohn’s Disease – Physicians’ Opinions

Although plaintiff’s depression is severe, the administrative law judge carefully considered plaintiff’s entire medical record, including his responsiveness to medication, multiple expert reports finding that he maintains a high degree of mental functioning and the capacity to work, and his own treating physician’s assessment that working will “help him psychologically.” The ALJ also incorporated into plaintiff’s residual functional capacity (RFC) significant limitations addressing his mental condition, restricting him to simple and routine tasks performed without time pressure and to only occasional interaction with the public and coworkers. Because substantial evidence supports the ALJ’s determination that plaintiff’s impairments do not warrant a still more limited RFC, we defer to the ALJ.

We affirm the district court’s judgment upholding the denial of benefits.

Contrary to plaintiff’s argument on appeal, the ALJ was persuaded by the opinion of plaintiff’s treating physician as to plaintiff’s Crohn’s disease. Plaintiff focuses on his need for unscheduled bathroom breaks to manage his diarrhea, and on his doctor’s view that he “may need” such breaks “2–3 times at the most” during an eight-hour workday, for an average of “15 min[utes]” each. But as the ALJ explained, the RFC accounts for such a requirement, allowing for a “time off task limitation” of up to 10 percent of an eight-hour workday (or roughly 48 minutes) for “pain and bathroom breaks.” It was only “greater limitations” – that is, bathroom-related accommodations going beyond those identified by the doctor – that the ALJ viewed as “inconsistent with longitudinal evidence and findings.” In short, the factual premise of plaintiff’s claim – that the ALJ refused to credit the doctor’s opinion as to bathroom breaks – is simply mistaken.

Pepper v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration (Lawyers Weekly No. 003-016-23, 7 pp.) (Per Curiam) No. 22-1381. Appealed from USDC at Greenville, S.C. (Cameron McGowan Currie, S.J.) George Piemonte and Michel Phillips for appellant; William Feldman, Brian O’Donnell, Katie Gaughan, Jared Littman and Corey Ellis for appellee. United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (unpublished)