Strickland v. Harris

Decision Date24 April 1980
Docket NumberNo. 79-3766,79-3766
PartiesMary STRICKLAND, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Patricia Roberts HARRIS, Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Defendant-Appellee. Summary Calendar. *
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

James Bass, Michael Krzys, Savannah, Ga., for plaintiff-appellant.

Henry L. Whisenhunt, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Savannah, Ga., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

Before RONEY, KRAVITCH and TATE, Circuit Judges.

TATE, Circuit Judge:

The district court granted summary judgment and upheld administrative denial of the claimant's application for supplemental security income benefits based on disability. The claimant appeals.

Under the applicable statute, the claimant can be considered disabled and thus eligible for supplemental security income benefits only if she "is unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve months." 42 U.S.C. § 1382c (1974). The district court affirmed the Secretary's denial of benefits, which was based on the finding of the Administrative Law Judge that Mrs. Strickland was capable of returning to her former occupation. Because we find no substantial evidence in the record in support of this finding, we reverse. Further, we must remand for additional administrative consideration of an issue not reached in the earlier proceedings. Incapacity to return to former employment does not conclude the disability issue under the statute (the only issue thus far administratively addressed), because statutory disability results only from an incapacity to engage in "any substantial gainful employment." We therefore remand for consideration of Mrs. Strickland's ability to undertake other substantial, gainful activity. Once (as we find) the claimant has proved inability to return to former employment, the burden shifts to the Secretary to show that the claimant is capable of engaging in other substantial gainful employment. Knott v. Califano, 559 F.2d 279, 281 (5th Cir. 1977).

Overview of Legal Principles Applicable

Essentially, the Title XVI Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provisions of the Social Security Act, under which this claim arises, were designed to provide benefits for persons not covered under the Title II social security benefits. McCormick, Social Security Claims and Procedures, Section 793 (2d ed. 1978). However, the relevant provisions of Title II of the Act (Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Benefits), 42 U.S.C. § 401 et seq., are identical to those of Title XVI (Supplemental Security Income for Aged, Blind, and Disabled), 42 U.S.C. § 1381 et seq. Thus, although there are relatively few judicial decisions interpreting and applying the SSI disability definition, 18 U.S.C. § 1382c(a)(3)(A), 1 the many decisions interpreting the identical definition of disability for social security insurance coverage, 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(1)(A), are persuasive for interpretation of SSI disability also. Likewise, as amended in 1976, the judicial review of SSI determinations by the Secretary, under 42 U.S.C. § 1383(c)(3), was specifically made identical with that provided for the Secretary's social security determinations by 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).

The issue before this reviewing court is the identical question of law that faced the district court: whether the administrative findings are supported by substantial evidence. Clinch v. Celebrezze, 328 F.2d 778 (5th Cir. 1964); Flemming v. Booker, 283 F.2d 321 (5th Cir. 1960). If so supported, the findings are conclusive; the reviewing court may not reweigh the evidence or substitute its judgment for that of the administrative fact-finder, even if the reviewing court views the evidence as preponderating otherwise. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1383(c)(3), 405(g), Laffoon v. Califano, 558 F.2d 253, 253 (5th Cir. 1977).

The narrowly circumscribed ambit of judicial review does not, however, excuse the court from a responsibility to scrutinize the record in its entirety to determine whether substantial evidence supports each essential administrative finding, Simmons v. Harris, 602 F.2d 1233 (5th Cir. 1979). "Substantial evidence is more than a scintilla, and must do more than create a suspicion of the existence of the fact to be established." National Labor Relations Board v. Columbian Enameling and Stamping Co., 306 U.S. 292, 300, 59 S.Ct. 501, 505, 83 L.Ed. 660 (1939). Nothing less than "such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion" will do. Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 1427, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971), quoting from Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 217, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938).

Thus, like the hearing officer himself, we must consider the evidence as a whole, Simmons v. Harris, 602 F.2d 1233, 1236 (5th Cir. 1979), including "(1) objective medical facts or clinical findings; (2) diagnoses of examining physicians; (3) subjective evidence of pain and disability as testified to by the claimant and corroborated by his wife, other members of his family, his neighbors and others who have observed him; and (4) the claimant's age, education and work history." DePaepe v. Richardson, 464 F.2d 92, 94 (5th Cir. 1972).

Overview of the Facts

In Mrs. Strickland's case, the record consists of a transcription of the testimony of the claimant, as developed by the questioning of the hearing examiner and appointed legal counsel, and various pages of agency forms and medical records, reports, and opinions.

Mrs. Strickland testified that she was 38 years old at the time of the hearing, married with seven dependent children. She had completed nine or ten grades in school and had a work history consisting entirely of physical labor as a motel maid, farm laborer, and domestic. She felt that she had become disabled after hospitalization for a hysterectomy in 1972. Although she attempted to work after that time, the claimant said that her efforts resulted in additional hospitalization and admonitions from her doctor to discontinue these efforts. According to Mrs. Strickland, her former work involved considerable bending, stooping, lifting; she now experiences pain with such activities and has had considerable difficulty with the development of hernias and re-opening of an incision on her abdomen. The claimant's ability to do housework has also become severely curtailed, and she relies on her older children for all but limited cooking and loading of the washing machine. According to the claimant, she has undergone in the intervening years nine surgical procedures on her abdomen. Other medical problems to which she avers include ulcers, stomach pain, hernias, a non-healing abdominal wound, spasms, anxiety, nerve problems, dizziness, and insomnia.

The remainder of the record contains medical records and reports from eight physicians and one applied psychologist. Two of the doctors the claimant's personal physician and a medical consultant to the agency characterize the claimant as disabled. Her own physician, Dr. William Gillikin, indicated in September, 1974, that Mrs. Strickland was unable to undertake occupational duties at the time because he was treating her for intestinal obstruction and severe weight loss. A March, 1975, certificate, unsigned but on the letterhead of the clinic with which Dr. Gillikin is associated, notes her disability due to treatment for "right direct inguinal herniorrhaphy; anterior ventral abdominal herniorrhaphy." In letters of November, 1975, and March, 1976, Dr. Gillikin described Mrs. Strickland as suffering with "(1) Melancholic depression (2) Chronic severe depressive reaction (3) Chronic draining wound dehiscence of anterior abdominal wall with acute and chronic cellulitis (Pseudomonas, etc.) (4) Prolapse of rectum on straining stool and lifting heavy objects." These letters also mention her recent operations and note that she had been unable to work since August, 1973, concluding finally, "She is also disabled from the standpoint of chronic weight loss secondary to malnutrition." Dr. Walters, a consultant to the Disability Determination Unit, concluded in February, 1977, that the claimant "is disabled by mental problems and 'inability to compete' Is a chronic alcoholic, malnourished . . . Is unable to hold down a job."

Reports of several other physicians which do not expressly address disability are also found in the record. A December, 1974, physical examination report by Drs. Gottschalk and Purvis diagnoses Mrs. Strickland as suffering from melancholic depression and internal hemorrhoids. A January, 1976 report to the Disability Adjudication Section by Dr. Wills, a neurologist and psychiatrist according to his letterhead, does not evaluate the degree of impairment or disability, specifically warning that "I am unable to evaluate the significance of the complaints given in this history." Several statements in this doctor's letter reveal an impression that the claimant was exaggerating or dramatizing her condition to some extent. He notes that she "appears to be well-developed and well-nourished" and that her mood is one of depression but "is difficult to evaluate." His conclusions are recorded as follows: 1. "Intoxication associated with medication abuse and possibly alcohol. 2. Rule out alcoholism. 3. Hysterical neurosis with much conscious manipulative behavior and very strong passivity and dependency needs and some depression (mentally competent to handle her own funds)." He makes a recommendation for a social service investigation of "the possibility of alcohol abuse and abuse of medication."

Dr. Samson, also a physician consulted by the administrative agency, filed a report in October 1975. He noted the following...

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