Parsons v. Heckler
| Decision Date | 24 July 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-2666,83-2666 |
| Parties | , Unempl.Ins.Rep. CCH 15,513 James C. PARSONS, Appellant, v. Margaret M. HECKLER, Secretary of Health and Human Services of United States of America, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
James D. Leach, Rapid City, S.D., for James Parsons.
Philip N. Hogen, U.S. Atty., Rapid City, S.D., for appellee.
Before BRIGHT, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.
James C. Parsons appeals from the Secretary's denial of his application for Social Security disability benefits under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 423, 416(i). The District Court affirmed the Secretary's denial of benefits. As we find the Secretary's conclusion unsupported by substantial evidence, we reverse.
Parsons filed for disability benefits on March 5, 1982. His claimed disability was for mental illness beginning in May 1979 and continuing to the present. 1 Parsons' application for disability benefits was denied. Parsons appealed and a hearing was held before an administrative law judge (ALJ) on December 13, 1982. The ALJ denied disability benefits because he found Parsons was not disabled as of June 30, 1981--Parsons' last day of insured status for disability benefits. 2
Parsons is thirty-four years old and has three undergraduate degrees, the most recent being a degree in Pharmacy which he received in 1977. After graduation, he worked as a pharmacist for six months before being fired in 1978. During the three years after losing his job as a pharmacist, Parsons was employed sporadically, and earned only $281.54 for 1980 and 1981, and had no income in 1979. Parsons consistently expresses a desire to keep and hold employment, but the record shows that he has been unable to do so.
The first medical record indicating Parsons' mental problems is a letter written by Dr. Roger P. Millea on March 16, 1979 referring Parsons to a psychiatrist. Designated Record (D.R.) at 76. In that letter Dr. Millea stated that Parsons "was probably suffering from paranoid schizophrenia" and that Parsons had been attending counseling sessions at Lutheran Social Services in Rapid City.
On August 26, 1980, Parsons was admitted to the Human Services Center (Center), which is a mental hospital in Yankton, South Dakota. A history and physical examination of Parsons was taken on September 15, 1980. This history notes that Parsons had an obsession that he was afflicted with a painful urinary tract infection. The history indicates Parsons had been seeing Dr. Donald W. Burnap, a psychiatrist, for about one year preceding his admission to the Center. 3 Dr. Burnap prescribed stelazine 4 to alleviate the pain Parsons suffered in his urinary tract. The history indicates that as of September 15, 1980, the differential diagnosis 5 of Parsons' mental condition was as follows: 6 (1) psychogenic pain disorder, 7 (2) conversion disorder, 8 (3) hypochondriasis, 9 (4) atypical somatoform disorder, 10 (5) atypical factitious disorder, 11 (6) schizoid personality disorder, 12 and (7) avoidant personality disorder. 13 D.R. at 86.
A psychologist at the Center examined Parsons on September 19, 1980 and prepared an evaluation of Parsons' mental condition. This evaluation records Parsons' obsession that he suffered from venereal disease, which he believed to be the source of his urinary tract pain. This obsession had lasted for at least six years, during which he had seen numerous doctors who refuted his self-diagnosis. Parsons' mother reported her observation of "irrational behaviors, argumentative behaviors and depression" in Parsons. Id. at 91. While tests indicated that Parsons' intelligence was within the average range, the subtests on the intelligence tests used showed considerable variation in scores. The evaluation attributes this variation to anxiety, depression, and diminished judgment. The evaluation concluded that Parsons demonstrated "both poor judgment and intellectualization and this appears related to his doubt about what to do in social situations." Id. at 92. The evaluation also noted:
His reality testing is good except in situations where affect is present. Then the patient no longer exercises good judgment and he is not able to control his emotional experience. He has an intense self-focus which interferes with interpersonal situations. It is likely that in social situations this patient really isn't aware of his impact on other people because he's concentrating on his own train of thought or fantasy. This may in part explain why he seems disjointed in conversations. He may be disregarding what another is saying to him, at least in part, and racing on with his own interpretation.
Because of the amount of painful affect, anxiety, and frustration this patient has suicide potential. He is currently engaged in a rigid defensive effort with almost complete paralysis of affect.
Id. (emphasis added).
A social history and assessment taken on September 22, 1980 noted that Parsons was in contact with the West River Mental Health Center in Rapid City in 1978 and 1979. This assessment also states that Parsons had been fired from the three jobs that he had held--as a computer operator, as a lumber yard worker, and as a pharmacist. Id. at 89-90. 14
Parsons was discharged from the Center on September 30, 1980. The discharge summary noted that although Parsons was intelligent, he was defensive about his psychiatric problems and became anxious and denied such problems whenever confronted with them. The final diagnosis on discharge included: (1) psychogenic pain disorder, 15 and (2) adjustment disorder with depressive symptomatology. 16 Although the patient was urged to seek psychiatric counseling on a regular basis with the West River Mental Health Center, the report concluded in its discharge planning section that "his resistance to [psychiatric counseling dims] the prognosis significantly." Id. at 94.
On December 14, 1981, about six months after the date his insured status ended Parsons returned to the Center. Parsons reported that he had been working as a manager for the past fifteen months, Id. at 95, but his earnings history reveals that he earned a total of $281.54 during the years 1980 and 1981. Id. at 71. He complained again of urinary tract pain. As before, Parsons presented a good image of himself at the admitting interview. The admitting report notes that Parsons was cooperative, friendly, and well-oriented as to time, place, and person and that his speech was coherent and relevant. The report further noted, however, that "he is obviously preoccupied about a GU [genital urinary] problem and the infection of the throat" both of which the report stated were considered to be obsessional or delusional in nature. Id. at 99. The diagnosis at this time was that Parsons had the following disorders: schizophrenia paranoid type, 17 compulsive personality, 18 and schizoid personality. 19 These diagnosis remained the same when Parsons was released on January 12, 1982. Id. at 105.
Parsons entered an adult day treatment program at the West River Mental Health Center on January 19, 1982. Parsons applied for disability insurance benefits on March 5, 1982. On May 5, 1982 Parsons was examined by Dr. Burnap at the request of the Social Security Administration. Dr. Burnap found Parsons to be suffering from chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia and mixed schizoid and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. Dr. Burnap recommended that Parsons be given disability benefits. D.R. at 108-09.
If the Secretary's decision is supported by substantial evidence, it is affirmed. See, e.g., Brand v. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, 623 F.2d 523, 527 (8th Cir.1980). Substantial evidence is defined as "relevant evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Smith v. Schweiker, 728 F.2d 1158, 1162 (8th Cir.1984). The substantial evidence test is more than a mere search of the record for evidence supporting the Secretary's finding. "The substantiality of evidence must take into account whatever in the record fairly detracts from its weight." Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456, 464, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951). The claimant has the burden of proving that he or she is disabled within the meaning of the statute. Once the claimant has established an inability to return to his past relevant work, the burden of going forward with evidence shifts to the Secretary to show other jobs in the economy that the claimant is capable of performing. Where an exertional impairment is demonstrated, the Secretary may fulfill this burden by reference to the medical-vocational guidelines contained in the Secretary's regulations. 20 C.F.R. Section 404, Subpart P, Appendix 2; McCoy v. Schweiker, 683 F.2d 1138, 1141 (8th Cir.1982). The Secretary may not rely on these guidelines if the record indicates that the claimant suffers from a nonexertional impairment. 683 F.2d at 1148. In such cases, and in cases of exertional impairments which do not fit within the guidelines, the Secretary must use vocational expert testimony or other similar evidence in order to meet her burden of showing there are jobs in the national economy which the claimant is capable of performing. Id.
It is apparent from the record that the ALJ found Parsons to be incapable of returning to his past relevant work as a pharmacist. D.R. at 11. After making this finding, the ALJ should have shifted the burden of going forward with evidence to the Secretary to demonstrate, through vocational expert testimony, jobs in the national economy which the claimant was capable of performing. See Smith, supra. This, however, was not done. The ALJ terminated his analysis with a finding that Parsons was not severely impaired.
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