Opinion ID: 3039121
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cooper’s Medical History

Text: Cooper has long suffered from many physiological and psychological ailments, many of them severe. He has received attention from various examining doctors over the ten years of this administrative proceeding and subsequent judicial review. According to the record before us, he has not worked since 1990 and has not earned more than $1,600 in yearly wages since 1984 (when he earned $5,331.50). Cooper’s physical ailments include: blindness in his right eye and partial blindness in his left eye, resulting from a blow from a steel beam during a prison fight; morbid obesity, with a self-reported weight of 345 pounds at his last SSA hearing; coronary artery disease, angina, high blood pressure and accompanying chest pains; shortness of breath and probable sleep apnea; occasional dizziness; sclerosis in his ankle, resulting in chronic pain; osteoarthritis in his left shoulder, right knee, and toes in both feet; and a mild vertebral endplate irregularity at the thoracolumbar region, causing chronic back pain. According to his family physician’s assessment in 1998, Cooper could perform no -4- sustained physical labor. But SSA’s medical examiners suggested he could lift 20 pounds occasionally, sit for an eight-hour workday, and stand or walk for one hour out of an eight-hour workday. He can do various household activities, has looked for work, and can take care of his pet fish (he even makes homemade filters for the tank out of charcoal and cloth). He can walk to a bus stop and take public transportation, but he has testified that he would need to rest every two blocks in order to do so. In addition, Cooper suffers from various psychological problems, including dysthymia (i.e., chronic depression), bipolar disorder, anger, violent behavior, and difficulty in social interactions, particularly with respect to his superiors in a work environment. Intellectually, doctors have evaluated him as having poor memory and only limited literacy. Cooper did complete high school and has consistently been judged capable to manage his own benefits. His doctors have disagreed, however, with regard to his general attitude. One SSA examiner concluded that, when examined, Cooper “showed a conscious attempt to look bad or exaggerate his illness or to malinger.” Another found him to be “not very cooperative.” On the other hand, a third doctor, who examined Cooper twice, found him to be “cooperative” and “very cooperative.”