Lydia Galvez v. Social Security Administration

Yakima, Washington, social security disability lawyer represented the Plaintiff seeking review of the denial of her application for social security benefits by HHS.





Lydia Galvez filed for Social Security disability insurance benefits and supplemental security income in 2011. Galvez claimed that she had been disabled since 2008 due to a variety of medical

conditions, including fibromyalgia, chronic right shoulder injuries, and chronic depression, which left her unable to

perform her prior work as a Certified Nurse Assistant. ALJ Kennedy held a hearing in 2013 and concluded that Galvez

was not disabled because she retained the Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) to perform light work. Galvez

appealed that decision to the district court and the district court remanded to the agency in 2017 to further evaluate

Galvez's fibromyalgia diagnosis. The court held that the ALJ failed to consider the correct diagnostic criteria to

determine whether Galvez's fibromyalgia was a severe medically determinable impairment. The district court

discussed the inconsistencies between the opinion of Dr. Wendy Eider, an examining rheumatologist who had

prepared a report finding multiple tender points consistent with fibromyalgia, and the ALJ's assessment of Galvez's

fibromyalgia. The court concluded that remand was appropriate because if the ALJ concluded that Galvez's

fibromyalgia was a severe impairment, then a reweighing of medical evidence and new RFC analysis would be

necessary.

Reversed and remanded.