Vang
Vang v. Astrue
Opinion
Lead Opinion
*402 MEMORANDUM **
Appellant Pa Vang appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the Commissioner of Social Security. The Commissioner had denied Vang’s application for social security disability benefits. We affirm.
Vang raises three arguments on appeal. First, Vang argues that the ALJ erred by rejecting the opinions of Vang’s treating physician psychiatrist Dr. Burns and nurse practitioner Christopher Johnson and by dismissing Vang’s low GAF scores. The ALJ appropriately rejected Johnson’s opinion that Vang was “disabled” because the Commissioner, not a medical source, makes the determination on the ultimate question of disability. See Magallanes v. Bowen, 881 F.2d 747, 751 (9th Cir.1989). Any error in rejecting Dr. Burns’s opinion that Vang had difficulty caring for her children does not warrant remand because it does not contradict the ALJ’s specific findings of Vang’s Residual Functional Capacity (RFC). See Burch v. Barnhart, 400 F.3d 676, 679 (9th Cir.2005). Vang points to no other statements by Dr. Burns that support Vang’s argument that the ALJ’s RFC assessment at Step 4 was erroneous. The ALJ gave specific, legitimate reasons for dismissing the low GAF…