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Eva ALLISON, Appellant, v. Abraham A. RIBICOFF, Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Social Security Administration, United States of America, Appellee

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit1962-08-30No. No. 8597
307 F.2d 379

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed the Secretary's denial of disability benefits, finding that substantial evidence supported the conclusion that Allison's impairments, individually or combined, did not preclude her from engaging in substantial gainful activity.

Eva Allison appealed the denial of her Social Security disability benefits claim. To qualify for disability payments, a claimant must demonstrate an inability to work due to a medically verifiable physical or mental condition expected to be long-lasting or permanent. The medical evidence in Allison's case included testimony from her treating physician, Dr. Anthony, who advised her not to work due to a combination of obesity, arthritis, and nervous tension, though he acknowledged she might perform very light work without physical or emotional demands. Other examining physicians found her joint mobility largely normal and her psychiatric condition manageable with medication, with one psychiatrist noting that individuals with similar diagnoses had successfully returned to work. The Appeals Council determined that the totality of evidence demonstrated her impairments were not severe enough to prevent substantial gainful activity.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether combined impairments of obesity, arthritis, and anxiety qualify as a long-term disability
  • Whether remediable conditions satisfy the statutory requirement of indefinite duration
  • Standard of review for Secretary's disability benefit determinations

Procedural posture

Allison appealed from a District Court judgment upholding the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare's denial of her disability benefits claim.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is Eva Allison’s appeal from the action of the District Court upholding the denial by the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare of a claim for disability benefits under 42 U.S.C.A. § 416(i) and § 423.

To be entitled to disability payments, the claimant must show that she is unable “to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental im pairment which can be expected to result in death or to be of long-continued and indefinite duration * * * ” 42 U.S. C.A. § 416(i) (1) (A) and § 423(c) (2). An impairment which is readily remediable does not qualify as one “of long-continued indefinite duration.” Bradey v. Ribicoff, 298 F.2d 855, 857 (4th Cir. 1962).

One of the witnesses was Dr. Anthony, who was claimant’s own physician. He testified that he had advised claimant not to work because of the combination of her obesity, arthritis, and nervous tension. However, he testified tending to show that the arthritis itself was not disabling; that the nervousness is more subjective than objective; and that her obesity would not alone be of any great significance. The doctor indicated that claimant, by following his advice, had reduced her weight from 235 pounds to 205 pounds and that she is making some progress. Dr. Anthony also qualified his opinion by stating that he thought she could do some very light type of work that didn’t require any physical exertion and didn’t have any emotional strain attached to it, and that in all fairness, if she could find a job situation to suit her, that claimant could engage in it.

Dr. Martinat testified to the effect that claimant has a full range of motion in all of her joints except for a very minimal amount of limitation in the lumbar spine which is within normal limits for a person of her age. Dr. Stanley’s report confirmed Dr. Martinat’s — his examination revealing that all of her joints were normally mobile. Dr. Ellison, a psychiatrist, expressed the opinion that claimant was mentally competent and that the patient’s anxiety symptoms could probably be improved to some degree with medication. He also expressed doubt that she will ever be over her chronic anxiety but said that other persons with a diagnosis similar to hers have been able to return to gainful employment.

The Appeals Council of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare concluded from all of the evidence “that the overwhelming weight of the evidence supports the conclusion that the claimant’s impairments, either singly or in combination, are not of sufficient severity to preclude her from engaging in any substantial gainful activity”.

Although we think it not such a plain case as the foregoing quotation would indicate, we are confronted with the proposition (42 U.S.C.A. § 405(g)) that the findings of the Secretary are binding on the District Court if, in the Court’s view, they are supported by substantial evidence. We are unable to say that there is not substantial evidence to> support the findings of the Secretary.

Affirmed,