Eppard v. Weinberger, Civ. A. No. 72-C-66-H.

• Decision Date: 17 July 1974
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 72-C-66-H.
• Citation: 378 F. Supp. 970
• Parties: Anna S. EPPARD, Plaintiff, v. Caspar WEINBERGER, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia

378 F. Supp. 970

Anna S. EPPARD, Plaintiff, v. Caspar WEINBERGER, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 72-C-66-H.

United States District Court, W. D. Virginia, Harrisonburg Division.

July 17, 1974.

R. Toms Dalton, Jr., Waynesboro, Va., for plaintiff.

E. Montgomery Tucker, Asst. U. S. Atty., Roanoke, Va., for defendant.

OPINION and JUDGMENT

DALTON, District Judge.

This case is before the court pursuant to § 205(g) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) to review a final decision of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare denying plaintiff's claim for disability insurance benefits for a period of disability under sections 223 and 216(i) of the Social Security Act. Plaintiff first filed an application for disability insurance benefits on July 23, 1971, alleging that she became unable to work on May 21, 1971. Plaintiff's application was denied initially, on reconsideration, and after a hearing. Following denial by the Appeals Council of her request for review of the hearing examiner's decision, plaintiff brought this action. On motion of the Secretary, this court remanded the case for further administrative action by order of February 5, 1973. After receipt of additional evidence, and a supplement hearing at which plaintiff, her attorney, her witnesses, and a vocational expert appeared, the administrative law judge issued a recommended decision, finding plaintiff not disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act. The Appeals Council, which further discussed the evidence, adopted the recommendation by its own decision of November 27, 1973. This decision stands as the final decision of the Secretary and as such is reviewable by this court, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).

For purposes of this review, plaintiff must have established that her disability began prior to November 27, 1973, the date the Secretary's decision became final. 42 U.S.C. § 423(b) and § 416(i)(2)(G). In deciding whether Mrs. Eppard is disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act, the function of this court is not to try the case de novo, but rather is to determine if there is substantial evidence to support the administrative decision denying benefits. 42 U.S.C. § 405(g); Hicks v. Gardner, 393 F.2d 299 (4th Cir. 1968).

The evidence in this case discloses that plaintiff is now forty-six years old and lives in Waynesboro, Virginia. She is married and has had three children, two of whom are still at home. Mrs. Eppard is a high school graduate. She has worked as a machine operator, as a laboratory assistant in a drug plant, and most recently, as a relay operator at a General Electric plant, operating a small welding machine.

The plaintiff testified at her hearing that she does not drive a car, has a limited social life, and a few interests, such as reading; she does very little housework. She states that her chief impairments are spinal arthritis, a damaged cranial system, "conversed" pelvis, poor circulation, and migraine headaches. Her subjective complaints concerning her health, as reflected in the record, have been legion. Her husband and daughter testified at the administrative hearing, and generally corroborated plaintiff's testimony of limitations in her everyday activities and functions, and of the troubles her medical condition have caused her. In August of 1973, Mrs. Eppard was 5' 2" tall, and weighed 155 pounds, after having lost some fifteen pounds. She takes several medications, including Talwin for back pain, Empirin III, Librax, and Meprobamate.

As is stated by the Secretary, plaintiff's medical record as a whole reveals a person with an apparent lifelong obsession of phyical illness and invalidism. The medical evidence of record is lengthy, and the court will summarize it where possible.

Medical findings appear in office notes of Dr. J. P. Anderson, a general practitioner who treated plaintiff on some thirty-five occasions between August of 1958 and February of 1971. They indicate that he treated plaintiff for a variety of ailments, including headaches, sinobronchitis, skin rashes, stomach distress, cystitis, a drawing of the face with giddiness in April of 1966, bursitis, tonsilitis, fever blisters, ulcer pain, flu and fever, and "stroke," which was diagnosed as a conversion reaction. She had previously had an appendectomy and total hysterectomy.

Plaintiff was admitted to the University of Virginia Hospital from May 5 to May 13, 1966, when she complained of double vision, speech difficulty, numbness and drawing of her face to the left, and unsteady gait. Her period of hospitalization was uneventful; diagnosis was probable multiple sclerosis, with tumor to be ruled out. Mrs. Eppard was sent to see Dr. J. Q. Miller, a neurologist, who reported in 1972 that he came to no definite diagnosis of plaintiff in 1966, but he was of the opinion that she had a "neurologic disease" at that time.

Dr. M. E. Myers, a general surgeon, furnished a report of plaintiff's admission to the Rockingham Memorial Hospital from May 21 (the alleged date of onset of plaintiff's disability) to June 11, 1971. Plaintiff was complaining of pain low in her back and in her right leg. Plaintiff's back motions and straight leg raising were restricted and her finger joints showed arthritic deformity. X-ray of her lumbosacral spine revealed minimal osteoarthritis; x-ray of the right hand revealed some cystic changes in several of the carpal bones. The clinical impressions were sciatic neuritis, chronic arthritis of the hands, obesity and migraine headaches. Plaintiff improved gradually and upon medication of Empirin Compound # 3 and Darvon, her pain subsided.

A report by Dr. G. G. Craun, an orthopedic surgeon, dated August 1971, gives a history of plaintiff's back and hip trouble since 1961. In 1961 x-rays of her lumbar spine showed a "transverse" sacroiliac joint and a curvature and narrowing at the lumbosacral joint. In 1963, she had a bursa removed from her right knee. In May of 1971, x-rays revealed lumbar osteoarthritis. At that time Dr. Craun found extreme tenderness of plaintiff's right hip joint with sharply limited motion and tenderness over her lumbosacral joint. In 1961 she had surgery on her left wrist; later she complained of finger pain and morning stiffness. Dr. Craun thought it likely that plaintiff would continue to have recurrent disabling episodes of severe backache with sciatica on the right, and thought her prognosis poor and her state of disability total.

On December 3, 1971, Dr. D. K. Webster, an orthopedic surgeon, examined plaintiff for the Virginia State Agency. At that time she complained of back and neck pain, migraines, and pain in the right leg. Dr. Webster found pain in plaintiff's neck upon movement, pain and 25 percent reduced motion in both shoulders, marked restrictions in movement of the low back (back and forward bending were less than half normal), straight leg raising on the right was limited by 50 percent, on the left by 25 percent, flexion of the hips was limited by 50 percent and was painful. Rotation of the right hip was limited by 50 percent, the left to a lesser extent. Dr. Webster thought the prognosis guarded the diagnosed chronic lumbosacral strain. He thought that surgery would not be beneficial and recommended symptomatic treatment.

Dr. J. M. Knapp, a psychiatrist, examined plaintiff in December of 1971 and reported that she had a multitude of complaints, some of which seemed rather vague, but the doctor noted that she talked as if she were already an invalid and unable to work any more. She spoke of several "strokes" involving the face and her leg and she said she had had so many illnesses that she could not name or number them. Dr. Knapp found plaintiff to be well-oriented and without signs of excessive tension or depression. He found it difficult to make a definite psychiatric diagnosis and he rendered none. The doctor regarded her as a person who had been "largely inadequate all along," who had become overcome by the pressures of working. In Dr. Knapp's estimation, there was "little likelihood" that plaintiff would "ever be employed again with any consistency in any capacity".

Dr. J. P. Anderson reported on March 6, 1972, that plaintiff had been hospitalized from February 5 through February 22, 1972, because of sudden severe disabling low back pain. He treated Mrs. Eppard with analgesics, sedatives, bed rest on a board and physical therapy. On these measures she showed a remarkably slow improvement and even at the time of discharge continued to complain rather bitterly of back pain. Dr. Anderson's diagnosis was osteoarthritis of the spine and marked apprehension or fear of total disability from back trouble. It was his opinion that plaintiff would not suffer any more disability than progressive pain and stiffness in her spine and extremities from her osteoarthritis. He could find no evidence of a ruptured disc or congenital back disease.

An examination of plaintiff by Dr. G. G. Craun on March 7, 1972, revealed tenderness over the lumbrosacral joint, right sciatic trunk and down to the gluteal fold. Her straight leg raising was limited and her sensation was...