Adams v. Weinberger

• Decision Date: 21 January 1977
• Docket Number: No. 76-1109,76-1109
• Citation: 39 A.L.R. Fed. 171,548 F.2d 239
• Parties: Bruce B. ADAMS, Appellant, v. Caspar WEINBERGER, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 239

548 F.2d 239

39 A.L.R.Fed. 171

Bruce B. ADAMS, Appellant, v. Caspar WEINBERGER, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Appellee.

No. 76-1109.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 9, 1976.

Decided Jan. 21, 1977.

Clinton Roberts, Farmington, Mo., for appellant.

Jean C. Hamilton, Asst. U. S. Atty., St. Louis, Mo., for appellee; Donald J. Stohr (former U. S. Atty.), St. Louis, Mo., on brief.

Before BRIGHT and WEBSTER, Circuit Judges, and TALBOT SMITH, Senior District Judge. ^*

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge.

Bruce B. Adams, a chronic alcoholic, has sought and been denied Social Security disability insurance benefits. This appeal by Adams from a summary judgment of the district court sustaining the administrative denial of benefits, ¹ presents the difficult problem of evaluation of chronic alcoholism as a factor in Adams' disability claim. ² For reasons stated below, we vacate the judgment of the district court and direct that Adams' claim for disability insurance benefits be remanded to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

The district court accurately stated the facts, which are not in serious dispute, as follows:

At plaintiff's (Adams) hearing, he testified that he was born in 1924, that he was approximately 5 foot eleven and a half inches tall, and that his average weight was about 175 pounds. He stated he had a college degree, a B.S. in Education, and that after college, he taught school for one year (Tr. 29). After that he had miscellaneous jobs as a sales clerk, paper business, insurance salesman, and claims adjuster, during the period 1949 to 1952. After that, he claimed he went to work for the Missouri Tuberculosis Association, where he stayed until September of 1968 (Tr. 31). After that, he worked for the Missouri Division of Welfare for about ten months, and subsequently for a detective agency until February of 1971 (Tr. 56).

He testified that after that he commenced having blackouts. He went to V. A. hospitals in St. Louis in 1971, and in Poplar Bluff in 1972. He testified that he was having trouble with diarrhea and involuntarily nodding or sleeping. He testified that he used to drink "very regularly and very heavily" (Tr. 44), but that he only drinks beer now. He stated he receives $159.00 a month from the Veterans Administration. He advised the Social Security Law Judge that his condition would "very definitely" be bettered by stopping smoking and drinking. But, "Quitting smoking is not an easy thing;" he said, "The quitting drinking, there's no great problem there. Well, I enjoy it, and I don't I don't think the beer hurts me, particularly." (Tr. 74).

Dr. T. J. Bentley, D.O., testified that he examined the plaintiff in August of 1974. Dr. Bentley testified that the plaintiff was suffering from chronic alcoholism, cirrhosis of the liver, and emphysema. The doctor testified that claimant was totally disabled (Tr. 44).

E. R. Adams, the father of the plaintiff, testified that his son was wounded in World War II, and that he had been in six separate serious jeep accidents. He testified that in 1966, plaintiff was divorced from his wife and came to live with him. He stated he would stay in the basement for long periods of time, taking only an occasional meal (Tr. 81). He testified he had another auto accident in 1971, and that he was continually sick. Mr. Adams testified that the plaintiff had remarried, but that neither worked and they both lived on plaintiff's V. A. pension. Plaintiff married his second wife, Wanetta Cook, on May 11, 1967.

One Ralph Graham, a neighbor, testified for the plaintiff. He claimed that plaintiff had episodes of falling and that he involuntarily fell asleep from time to time, and that he suffers from diarrhea.

In addition to the testimony of Dr. Bentley, the file contains a medical report from David P. Grace, Ph.D., (Tr. 142). Plaintiff has been referred to Dr. Grace by the Missouri Vocational Rehabilitation Unit. Dr. Grace's psychological evaluation indicated plaintiff to have hysterical neurosis. He stated he was attracted to, and repelled by different people, and has concerning emotional dependency and sexuality. Dr. Grace felt that the probability of successful rehabilitation is well below average unless psychological consultation is undertaken.

A report from the John Cochran Veterans Hospital in St. Louis (Tr. 151), revealed plaintiff to have chronic alcoholism, diabetes mellitus, emphysema and vasovagal syncope. This is dated March 31, 1971.

A medical report from Dr. B. A. Micahelis, M.D., of Fredericktown, Missouri, dated October 10, 1972, showed treatment for vertigo at that time (Tr. 155).

A report from Dr. W. E. Magee, M.D., (Tr. 158) summarizes his views of the plaintiff, made on November 10, 1972:

It is my impression that this man is unemployable, he is chronically ill, he would never pass a physical examination for employment anywhere, and this is total and permanent, based upon his psychiatric disease, which is incurable, and the degree of pulmonary insufficiency that he has.

A hospital summary, mostly illegible, was furnished by the Veterans Administration Hospital at Poplar Bluff. This summary is dated April 22, 1973. This hospital reported a chronic brain syndrome, a macrocytic anemia type, intermittent diarrhea, and chronic alcoholism.

Dr. W. E. Magee, M.D., reported again on September 16, 1974, indicating that plaintiff was beyond rehabilitation. He reaffirmed his opinion that he is presently and permanently disabled from any type of work, including sedentary type occupations.

Dr. Wendell K. Stewart, M.D., of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, reported on November 14, 1974 (Tr. 193). He noted plaintiff's long addiction to alcohol, admitting to about a quart of vodka and a cut back to now drinking "only six to eight cans of beer per day." His impressions were alcohol addiction, peripheral neuropathy, cirrhosis of the liver, and drug dependence. He recommended:

This is a chronic alcoholic and drug abuser who is now showing the ravages of years of abuse. He tried to talk me into giving him prescriptions for barbiturates and Lomotil. If he were to completely abstain from booze and give up drugs, he might well be able to have several productive years ahead, as his mentation is not yet affected, at least as far as we can now tell. His motivation may be open to question and this lack of motivation would seem to be his major "problem". He is, in my opinion, competent to manage his own affairs.

(Adams v. Matthews, 407 F.Supp. 729, 730-32.)

Following this factual recitation, the district court concluded that Adams' asserted disabilities "are traceable to heavy drinking(,)" and noted that Adams' chronic alcoholism has caused "the cirrhosis situation and driven him to the related drug abuse problem." 407 F.Supp. 732. Reaching this conclusion, the district court sustained the findings of the Administrative Law Judge, adopted by the Appeals Council, as based on substantial evidence that Adams was not under a "disability" because he had not followed the advice of physicians "to stop alcohol."

The Administrative Law Judge had reviewed the physicians' reports on claimant's physical condition and noted that Adams "does have emphysema, chronic colitis and cirrhosis of the liver but not to the extent that he would be precluded in the work he had previously performed." The Administrative Law Judge came to the following conclusion:

It appears that the claimant's inability to work can be attributed to his drinking habits. In the absence of evidence that the claimant has significant organ damage that precludes work activity, it must be found that the power and ability to remedy his plight rests solely with him. Under the circumstances, he has not established his entitlement to disability insurance benefits.

II.

With this factual background, we turn to the case law and current Social Security regulations relating to alcoholism. Several cases have denied that chronic alcoholism can be a basis for recovery of disability insurance benefits under the Act, relying in part upon then-existing Social Security administrative regulations categorizing chronic alcoholism as a "personality disorder" characterized by patterns of socially unacceptable behavior which does not result in inability to engage in substantial gainful activity in the absence of an associated severe psychoneurosis or psychosis. ³ Osborne v. Cohen, 409 F.2d 37, 39 (6th Cir. 1969); Brasher v. Celebrezze, 340 F.2d 413, 417-18 (8th Cir. 1965). This regulation has since been repealed. See Griffis v. Weinberger, 509 F.2d 837, 838 (9th Cir. 1975). Thus, the cases denying benefits in reliance on that regulation are now of doubtful authority.

In the present case, the Administrative Law Judge rejected alcoholism as a basis for disability benefits, emphasizing the absence of evidence of "significant organ damage that precludes work activity(.)" The previous administrative regulations seemed to require that such organ damage be present in order for alcoholism to be considered an impairing "functional nonpsychotic disorder." 20 C.F.R. § 404.1506, Appendix to Subpart P, P 12.04(G)(3) (1974). But § 404.1506 and P 12.04 of the Appendix to Subpart P, as they relate to alcoholism and drug addiction, have been modified to express a more general standard:

(d) The presence of a condition diagnosed or defined as addiction to alcohol or drugs will not, by itself, be the basis for a finding that an individual is or is not under a disability. As with any other condition, the determination as to disability in such instances shall be based on symptoms, signs, and laboratory findings.

(§ 404.1506(d), 40 Fed.Reg. 30263, July 1975.)

The Commissioner of Social Security, explaining these changes, noted that " * * * the changes are intended only to clarify the regulations and not in any way change their effect upon disability claimants with a...