Rodgers v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue, Docket No. 51347.

• Decision Date: 18 November 1955
• Docket Number: Docket No. 51347.
• Citation: 25 T.C. 254
• Parties: BERTHA M. RODGERS, PETITIONER, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT.
• Court: U.S. Tax Court

25 T.C. 254

BERTHA M. RODGERS, PETITIONER,

v.COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT.

Docket No. 51347.

Tax Court of the United States.

Filed November 18, 1955.

Petitioner's husband suffered from generalized arteriosclerosis and the summer and winter climate in St. Louis was detrimental to his health, causing increased vascular deterioration. Consequently, petitioner and her husband adopted the routine which they followed in each of the taxable years, of spending the winter in the South, the summer in the North, and the spring and fall in St. Louis. In 1947 and again in 1949 they made a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to visit their eye doctor. Held, on the facts the amounts expended for transportation, food, and lodgings while on the trips to the South in the winter and to the North in the summer were primarily personal expenses and were not deductible as medical expenses under section 23(x) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939. Held, further, the expenses of the trips to visit their eye doctor in Tulsa are medical expenses within the purview of section 23(x). Thomas E. Toney, Jr., Esq., for the petitioner.

Stanley W. Ozark, Esq., for the respondent.

Respondent determined deficiencies in the income tax of petitioner and her husband, George B. Rodgers, in the amounts of $448.03, $650.86, and $1,178.32 for the years 1947, 1949, and 1950, respectively. Petitioner claims an overpayment of income tax in the amount of $384.50 for the year 1947. Some of the adjustments are uncontested. The issue for decision is whether the respondent properly disallowed the deduction of certain amounts claimed as medical expenses deductible under section 23(x), Internal Revenue Code of 1939.

FINDINGS OF FACT.

The stipulated facts are so found.

The petitioner resides in St. Louis, Missouri, and filed joint returns with her deceased husband, George B. Rodgers (hereinafter referred to as George), on the cash basis for the calendar years 1937, 1949, and 1950 with the collector of internal revenue for the first district of Missouri.

George was born in 1876 and married petitioner in 1916. Until 1923 he was employed as an engineer in St. Louis and New York. He and petitioner moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1923 where they remained until 1938. While in Oklahoma George engaged in the oil business. He also acted as a consulting engineer and assisted a sister of petitioner in her business. George and petitioner moved to St. Louis in 1938. Thereafter George's only business activities consisted of trading in stocks and bonds for the account of petitioner, and to a minor extend, for his own account. After moving to St. Louis, petitioner and George made their home with petitioner's brother and sister. Petitioner's sister owned the house in which they lived.

In the early 1940's George began to suffer from a heard condition. In April of 1944 he became a patient of the cardiologist who was to be his physician throughout the remainder of his life. For several months George visited this physician at intervals of three or four weeks. At the time of his first visit, this physician diagnosed George's condition as general arteriosclerosis with particular emphasis on cerebral sclerosis. In other words there was general induration (hardening) or deterioration in the blood vessels of the body, especially the vessels to the brain, causing an impaired blood supply to the brain, the heart, and the body in general. The deterioration of coronary vessels resulted in chronic coronary insufficiency (anginal syndrome) or an impaired blood supply to the heart. Temporary impairment of the circulation to the brain cells caused episodes of transience or so-called ‘dimouts,‘ something less than a complete fainting attack or loss of consciousness, such as dizziness, confusion, amnesia, temporary loss of speech, and disorientation.

Vascular (blood vessel) deterioration is a part of normal physiological aging and cannot be stopped. However, in George's case, the deteriorative process was abnormally rapid, and the only thing that could be done for him was to attempt to slow down that process. Primarily, aside from medicine to aid the circulation, the treatment consisted of showing him how to live so as to avoid to the extent possible stress and strain on the cardiovascular system.

One of the things that the physician told George was that a stable, warm, not too hot but equable climate would do much in his favor. The physician considered this as important a part of George's regime as the medicine, the reason for this being that particularly wide and abrupt temperature changes cause considerable stress on the cardiovascular system. The body cells function within a narrow one-degree range. The body maintains this even temperature, in part, by changing the output of the heart or flow of blood. A particularly wide and abrupt atmospheric temperature change thus causes a change in the blood flow, throwing a stress on the cardiovascular system. An elderly individual, whose cardiovascular system has become weaker due to aging changes, has less ability to cope with these stresses than a younger person. A person who has a fairly severe degree of generalized arteriosclerosis, as did George, is even at a greater disadvantage.

A great many individuals, including doctors, when they have reached the stage that George had, move to a place such as California that has an equitable climate the year round. An equable year-round climate can be obtained, however, by spending the winter months in the South and the summer months in the North. George chose the latter. The physician recommended that he spend the winter months in either Florida or Arizona.

George went to Tucson, Arizona, each winter from 1941 to 1947, inclusive. He also made some trips to Tucson in the summer during that period. Petitioner did not accompany him upon all of these trips. The winter trips prior to 1945 and the summer trips were for the purpose of alleviating a sinus condition with which George was troubled. In the winter of 1945, 1946, and 1947 he went to Tucson upon the recommendation of the cardiologist. Petitioner accompanied him on the 1947 trip. Petitioner and George went to St. Petersburg, Florida, for about 2 months in the winter of both 1949 and 1950. Petitioner and George went to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, for the first time in the summer of 1947. They went back to Manitowoc in the summer of 1949 and were going there again in the summer of 1950 when George became ill in Milwaukee. In 1948 petitioner and George went to Florida in the winter and Michigan in the summer.

Petitioner and George took a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1947 and again in 1949. The purpose of these trips was to have their eyeglasses changed. George wore trifocal lenses and had had considerable trouble with the glasses he had gotten in St. Louis. The doctor whom they visited in Tulsa was familiar with George's eyes and seemed to have no trouble fitting him.

Due to the dimouts which George experienced, he was advised by the cardiologist that he should have a companion with him at all times. For this reason petitioner accompanied him on all of the trips taken in 1947, 1949, and 1950. It was the opinion of the cardiologist that these trips slowed down the process of vascular deterioration. On all of the trips taken by automobile George did the driving. The cardiologist advised him not to drive more than 100 or 150 miles per day.

In 1947 petitioner and George departed by train for Tucson on January 12, and began the trip back to St. Louis on April 5. They spent $205.63 for transportation, at least $750 for room rent, and at least $650 for food on the trip to Tucson. They left for Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on July 7, 1947, and returned to St. Louis on August 18, 1947. They spent at least $70 for gas, oil, meals, and lodgings on the trip to and from Manitowoc, and spent $231 for lodgings and at least $300 for meals while at Manitowoc. Petitioner and George left by train for Tulsa to visit the eye doctor on December 15, 1947, and returned to St. Louis on December 19, 1947. They expended, while on the trip to Tulsa, $80.04 for transportation, at least $24 for lodgings, and at least $30 for food. During 1947 petitioner and George expended $527.29 for physicians, surgeons, and laboratory services and at least #230 for medicines.

In 1949 petitioner and George left by train for St. Petersburg, Florida, on January 28, and left St. Petersburg for St. Louis on March 27. They paid $245.47 for transportation and at least $20 for meals aboard the train. They paid $1,290.83 for room and meals in St. Petersburg, of which approximately 50 per cent was for meals. Petitioner and George left St. Louis by automobile on July 20, 1949, and arrived in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on July 22, 1949. They left Manitowoc on September 14, 1949, and arrived in St. Louis on September 19, 1949. They paid at least $378 for lodgings and $500 for food in Manitowoc. They expended at least $100 for gas, oil, meals, and lodgings en route to and from Manitowoc. To see the eye doctor petitioner and George left St. Louis for Tulsa by automobile on October 16, 1949, and returned to St. Louis on October 22, 1949. They expended at least $40 for lodgings and $60 for meals while on the trip. During 1949 petitioner and George spent $578 for physicians and surgeons and at least $312 for medicines.

In 1950 petitioner and George left St. Louis by train on January 30, and arrived in St. Petersburg on February 1. They left St. Petersburg on March 26, 1950, and arrived home in St. Louis on March 27, 1950. They paid $214.38 for transportation and at least $20 for food on the train. They spent $1,265.51 for room and meals in St. Petersburg, of which approximately 50 per cent was for meals. Petitioner and George left by automobile for Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on August 9, 1950. They arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 10, 1950. During the night George became ill and was admitted to the hospital...