Dr. P. Brighton, who treated the claimant at CHI, completed a request for information from Disability Determinations on October 5, 2005. Dr. Brighton indicated that the claimant did not in her opinion have a mental impairment. She indicated that there was no loss of motion or deformity of a major joint, the claimant's gait and station were normal, and she could squat, and walk on her toes and heels. Her grip strength was 5/5 and fine dexterity was normal. Dr. Brighton stated that the claimant had limited rotation of the back, but there is no supporting documentation for this.
The claimant has alleged numerous physical and mental symptoms dating back to her alleged onset date which coincides with the involuntary termination of her employment as a nurse's assistant. However, after considering the evidence of record, I find that the claimant's statements concerning the intensity, persistence and limiting effects of symptoms are not credible prior to January 1,2005, to the extent they are inconsistent with finding that the claimant has no severe impairment or combination of impairments.
As for the opinion evidence, Dr. John Schosheim, a psychiatrist and independent medical expert, testified that the first documentation in the medical record of a mental impairment was the consultative examination performed at the request of the State agency on May 7, 2005. Subsequent evidence from examinations and treatment in 2007 and 2008, discussed below, document that the claimant suffers from a schizoaffective disorder, which meets the diagnostic and severity criteria of listings 12.03 and 12.04. Dr. Schosheim opined that an impairment of this nature does not just occur overnight, and based on the 2005 examination, it is medically reasonable to conclude that the claimant was disabled by her mental impairment by January 1, 2005. In interrogatories completed on the date of the hearing, Dr. Schosheim wrote that the earliest date the listings were met was "probably" in 2001 when the claimant was discharged from her job, however, in his testimony he explained that this was speculative, and not established by the medical evidence. The claimant's treating psychiatrist, Dr. P. Borrego, MD, completed an "Onset Date Questionnaire" on January 5, 2008, noting that she has treated the claimant since March 24, 2006, and that in her opinion the limitations and restrictions reported by Dr. Borrego in the "Mental Capacity Assessment" had been present since 2005 (Exhibit 21F).
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