Currier v. Secretary of Health, Ed. and Welfare

• Decision Date: 04 January 1980
• Docket Number: No. 79-1156,79-1156
• Citation: 612 F.2d 594
• Parties: Gerald L. CURRIER, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE, Defendant, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 594

612 F.2d 594

Gerald L. CURRIER, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE, Defendant, Appellee.

No. 79-1156.

United States Court of Appeals First Circuit.

Submitted Sept. 14, 1979.

Decided Jan. 4, 1980.

H. Neil Berkson and Bragdon, Berkson & Mangones, Keene, N. H., on brief, for plaintiff, appellant.

William H. Shaheen, U. S. Atty., and Robert T. Kennedy, Asst. U. S. Atty., Concord, N. H., on brief, for defendant, appellee.

Before COFFIN, Chief Judge, CAMPBELL and BOWNES, Circuit Judges.

LEVIN H. CAMPBELL, Circuit Judge.

Gerald Currier brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) to review the decision of the administrative law judge, adopted as the final decision of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, denying appellant's claim of entitlement to disability benefits. The district court affirmed the Secretary's decision. Appellant challenges the judgment of the Secretary on two grounds: first, that by finding him "physically unimpaired" the administrative law judge used the wrong legal standard in evaluating his claim of a disabling mental condition; and second, that the administrative law judge's decision that he retained the residual functional capacity to perform his former type of work, albeit not at his former job site, is unsupported by substantial evidence.

As to the first contention, we are satisfied for the reasons expressed by the district court that the word "physically" instead of "mentally" did not reflect any misunderstanding of the nature of the claim nor of the basic legal question to be resolved.

We sustain appellant's second contention that the administrative law judge's decision is, on the present record, unsupported by substantial evidence.

Appellant, who is thirty-two years old and has a high school education, worked for several years as a custodian in a hospital prior to joining the United States Air Force on October 2, 1970. During the thirteen months appellant was in the Air Force, he was twice hospitalized for a serious mental condition. He was discharged from active duty for medical reasons on November 20, 1971. He subsequently received a one hundred per cent disability rating from the Veterans Administration. For the next five years, until March 12, 1976, appellant worked as a washer in a woolen mill. Starting in at least 1974, he received regular psychiatric treatment, including medication. In the late winter of 1976 he simultaneously experienced added marital pressures at home and increased harassment from his co-workers and supervisors at work to which he responded in an "inappropriate" manner. Upon the recommendation of a staff psychiatrist at the counselling center he attended on a regular basis, he took a leave of absence from work. He did not return when his leave was over and, in any event, was advised by his boss that he would be fired if he did return. He has not sought other employment.

Appellant filed an application for disability benefits on November 11, 1976 asserting that he became unable to work on March 12, 1976 (the date he began his leave of absence) due to a nervous condition, which he testified at the administrative hearing causes him to "shake" and get "all up tight."

The medical evidence introduced at the administrative hearing when appellant was unrepresented by counsel consists of four items: (1) a narrative summary of appellant's hospitalization in July and August of 1971 for psychiatric treatment while in the Air Force; (2) the notes of a Veterans Administration psychiatrist, Dr. John MacAllister, who saw appellant at regular intervals from September 23, 1974 until a few months before the administrative hearing; (3) a letter dated December 28, 1976 from Thomas Maynard, a psychiatric social worker, who worked with appellant "around marital and work issues" for approximately 18 months. Mr. Maynard's letter reports a staff psychiatrist's conclusory diagnosis of appellant's mental condition as of March, 1976; and (4) a letter dated April 5, 1977 from appellant's family physician, Dr. Denis Maryn, who did not state the length of time he had observed and treated the appellant.

The narrative summary of his Air Force experience indicates that appellant was twice hospitalized for observation and treatment in July and August of 1971. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, he was returned to duty after the first episode because of, among other things, "his motivation to return to duty." He was soon re-hospitalized and then later discharged from the active service after his case was referred to a medical review board. The report of his condition at this time indicated functional inadequacy "even when performing very minor tasks," and concluded that while appellant would not require hospitalization at a Veterans' Administration facility "(h)is impairment for social and industrial adaption is considerable." Appellant was diagnosed as having "schizophrenic reaction undifferentiated type, moderate, in partial remission, as manifested by loosening of associations, inappropriate behavior, poor performance, emotional liability, and social withdrawal . . . Impairment: marked for further military duty, considerable for social and vocational rehabilitation."

There is no information about appellant's mental condition from September of 1971 until September 23, 1974, ¹ when he was first seen by Dr. John MacAllister, a psychiatrist with the Veterans Administration, upon whose impressions of the appellant the administrative law judge principally relies. Dr. MacAllister's sole indicated diagnosis of appellant's mental condition was entered in his notes on October 30, 1974 and substantially comported with the Air Force's 1971 diagnosis. ²

Dr. MacAllister's notes of appellant's progress entered on his visits spanning over three years show that appellant was continually on medication for his condition but that even on medication he had at times severe difficulty handling the combined pressures of a rocky marital situation and harassment by his co-workers. Dr. MacAllister's notes for December 10, 1975 reflect that appellant reported a deteriorating work environment. Appellant advised Dr. MacAllister that he couldn't take people constantly hollering at him and blaming him for everything and that he "told (his) boss off." Both Dr. MacAllister's notes and the letter from appellant's psychiatric social worker, Thomas Maynard, show that appellant experienced a particularly stressful time at work in the late winter of 1976 and responded inappropriately. In his notes of appellant's February 6, 1976 visit, Dr. MacAllister reported that "things" had been going well but that when his marital situation deteriorated he got very upset, and threw things (chairs, etc.) around. Dr. MacAllister also reported appellant's comments: "I just can't help myself it's the same thing at the shop they pick on me even the bosses make fun of me and the way I do things they shouldn't do that. I holler at them and tell them to leave me alone."

Dr. MacAllister's entry for March 19, 1976 shows that he had received a call from Thomas Maynard, appellant's social worker, to report that appellant was in some trouble at work and that the staff psychiatrist at the counselling center had recommended a leave of absence. Mr. Maynard's letter of December 28, 1976 corroborates this:

"At work, according to Mr. Currier and his employer, he was a target for ridicule and responded inappropriately. He became nervous and inefficient at work and was about to be fired when our consulting psychiatrist, Dr. Mai-Lan Rogoff, recommended a leave of absence in March of 1976. Her diagnosis at the time was ...