Wylie v. Secretary of Health, Education & Welfare

296 F. Supp. 738, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9682
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedDecember 11, 1968
DocketCiv. No. 11805
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 296 F. Supp. 738 (Wylie v. Secretary of Health, Education & Welfare) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wylie v. Secretary of Health, Education & Welfare, 296 F. Supp. 738, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9682 (D. Conn. 1968).

Opinion

RULING ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

BLUMENFELD, District Judge.

In this action under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) for review of a final decision of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare denying plaintiff’s application for disability benefits, plaintiff and defendant both seek summary judgment based on the pleadings, the transcript of the hearing below, and the final decision thereon.

Plaintiff applied for disability benefits, and a hearing was held on June 9, 1966. The examiner recommended a denial of her application, and this recommendation was adopted by the Appeals Council on December 9, 1966. On February 7, 1967, plaintiff filed this action for judicial review; and on April 24, 1967, this court remanded the ease, at the Secretary’s request, for further evidence. After a second hearing, an examiner recommended denial of plaintiff’s application on February 6, 1968; this recommendation was adopted by the Appeals Council on March 22, 1968. Plaintiff now seeks review of that action.

The Finding Below

Plaintiff’s claim of disability is based on an alleged thyroid condition and related mental retardation, which it is claimed resulted in plaintiff’s inability to hold down a job because it caused her inability to get along with others and her lackadaisical attitude. It is claimed that the disability set in about 1947. The evidence presented revealed a history of emotional problems, difficulties in adjustment, various jobs, and various medical problems. The hearing examiner based his recommendation on the lack of medical evidence sufficient to show a disability before June 30, 1950, the last day on which plaintiff met the statutory “earnings” requirement, or “insured status” requirement. See 42 U.S.C. § 423(c).

The evidence showed that plaintiff was employed by G. Fox & Company in a clerical capacity from 1923 to 1932, when she was laid off for no apparent reason (other than economic conditions). During the 1930’s she had various other jobs of a clerical nature in department stores. In 1940 she got a job with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company; its records state that she was discharged in [740]*7401944 because of insubordination. However, plaintiff testified that she quit because her mother was opposed to the war and considered plaintiff a traitor for working there. She had miscellaneous jobs after that time until 1947. Since 1947 she has neither sought nor had outside employment. During 1947-1951, she helped her mother run a rooming house and helped her sister run an antique shop.

There was no evidence of medical treatment of any kind prior to June 30, 1950. A Dr. Sayers testified that he had known plaintiff for years, and that on a few occasions between 1947 and 1951 he had treated plaintiff’s mother in her home. He testified that during one of these visits, in 1947, he had observed plaintiff and that she obviously had a thyroid condition. However, he never told plaintiff or anyone else about this; he stated that this was because he thought plaintiff was being treated by another doctor and it would be unethical for him to mention it. He also was unable to say why no other doctor who had subsequently treated plaintiff for various problems had recognized this “obvious” glandular condition before 1963.

In 1951 a Dr. Murphy treated plaintiff for anemia. Treatment and examination were discontinued after a few visits. In his report of June 3, 1966, he stated that she was “totally disabled” and that her condition was the same then as it was in 1951. He also stated therein that plaintiff had been “unemployable since 1932.” However, at the hearing he testified that he included this statement “probably” because plaintiff had told him that she had last worked in 1932 (an obviously untrue statement).

Other medical evidence showed that in 1953 plaintiff was treated by a Dr. Von Glahn for osteoarthritis of the hands. In 1957, when plaintiff entered St. Francis Hospital for dental treatment, a preadmission physical examination was essentially negative, and the part of the report termed “Significant Past History” contained the single word “Psychoasthenia,” a neurosis. In 1959 she was treated for eczema by Dr. Von Glahn. In 1963 plaintiff for the first time was diagnosed as hyperthyroid; and she was admitted to St. Francis in early 1964, where she remained for a week. She has been under medical supervision for that condition since the 1963 diagnosis. Finally, in June 1967, plaintiff underwent psychiatric examination; it was not very thorough because plaintiff did not cooperate, but the doctor did not detect any obvious surface mental disability.

There was also much lay testimony by plaintiff’s sisters to the fact that plaintiff was “run down” and had “deteriorated” since 1947. She had been regarded as retarded most of her life by her family, and her family made most of her decisions for her. It was allegedly because her family was opposed to medical treatment that she did not see a doctor before June 1950.

The Relevant Law

Title 42 U.S.C. § 423(d) contains the following relevant subsections: [741]*741Subsection 428(d) (3) was added in 1967 by Public Law 90-248. It became effective on January 1, 1968, but applies to applications made before that time if, inter alia, the applicant has not died and notice of a final decision of the Secretary has been given prior to that time but a civil action for review has commenced and a final decision has not been reached before that time, as in the present case. See 1968 Amendments, 42 U.S.C. § 423, at 2040. Among other things, Congress was concerned with judicial interpretations that had not required the existence and severity of the impairment to be supported by clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques. “Statements of the applicant or conclusions by others with respect to the nature or extent of impairment or disability do not establish the existence of disability for purposes of social security benefits based on disability unless they are supported by clinical or laboratory findings or other medically acceptable evidence confirming such statements or conclusions.” S.Rep. No. 744, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., in U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News, pp. 2882-83 (1967).

[740]*740“(1) The term ‘disability’ means—
(A) inability 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 12 months * * *
******
“(3) For the purposes of this subsection, a ‘physical or mental impairment’ is an impairment that results from anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormalities which are demonstrable by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques.
******

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Toledo v. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
308 F. Supp. 192 (D. Puerto Rico, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
296 F. Supp. 738, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9682, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wylie-v-secretary-of-health-education-welfare-ctd-1968.