Destanie E. v. Frank Bisignano, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration

Summary

A United States magistrate judge recommends reversing the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of disability benefits and remanding for further proceedings. The recommendation concludes that the administrative law judge failed to determine whether the claimant’s anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder were medically determinable impairments and that the error was not harmless.

Holdings

1. The ALJ erred by failing to consider whether the claimant's anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder were medically determinable impairments at step two.
2. The ALJ's failure to evaluate anxiety and PTSD as medically determinable impairments was not harmless.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the ALJ erred by failing to determine at step two whether the claimant's anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder were medically determinable impairments.
2. Whether the ALJ's failure to address those impairments was harmless because the ALJ found other severe impairments and referred generally to anxiety and trauma-related disorders in the residual functional capacity discussion.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded