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Public Health – Disability benefits

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 19, 2015//

Public Health – Disability benefits

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 19, 2015//

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U.S. Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Public Health – Disability benefits

Where the ALJ ignored objective evidence of pain, the denial of disability benefits must be vacated.

“Not realizing that pain can be real and intense yet its cause not be discernible by medical tests or examinations, the administrative law judge repeatedly intoned the distinction between ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ evidence of pain, the former being testimony of the applicant. What makes the error in this case well-nigh incomprehensible is that there was ‘objective’ evidence of pain—plenty of objective evidence: the damaged ulnar nerve, loss of forearm muscle, and the pain caused by the corrective elbow surgery, all on his right arm (and all the result of his cubital tunnel syndrome), and the severe back pains caused by his scoliosis and quite possibly by the Harrington rods as well, which are no longer an approved method of treating scoliosis because they can cause a painful back condition—which could be the source of Adaire’s back pains—called “flatback syndrome.” Virgin-ia Spine Institute, ‘Flat Back Syndrome,’ www.spinemd.com/symptoms-conditions/flat-back-syndrome (visited Feb. 15, 2015).

Reversed and Remanded.

14-1116 Adaire v. Colvin

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Myerscough, J., Posner, J.

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