Court Opinion

ID: 9475248
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:21:36.182149+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:36.131629
License: Public Domain

ROBERT MADDEN HILL, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
Because I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the ALJ used incorrect legal standards in applying the durational requirement and the substantial gainful activity test, I concur. I write separately, however, to emphasize my view — one which I believe is shared by the other panel members — that on remand the ALT is free to exercise his discretion anew in applying the proper formulation of these legal standards to the facts of this case. I also take this opportunity, in light of our remand, to *824relate below an alternate perspective of the record of Singletary’s impairment.
I. The Documentary Record
An amplification of the record discloses an evidentiary basis for the AU to reach the same conclusion of no disability, even if correct legal standards are applied. The reports of several physicians indicate that Singletary’s impairments may not be so severe as to prevent him from finding and maintaining employment. Again, I emphasize these portions of the record not in an effort to control the AU’s decision on remand, but rather to indicate that the AU is left free to make his own initial independent determination.
A. Dr. Boudreaux
The earliest record of psychiatric care appears to be an examination by Dr. Boudreaux of the Veterans Administration (“V.A.”) in June 1977. Singletary was diagnosed as grossly psychotic and catatonicly schizophrenic. However, Dr. Boudreaux’s later examination in October 1982 revealed this as “a mistaken diagnosis,” for he concluded that the 1977 incident was “a drug abuse and withdrawal disorder as Dr. Lessman then suspected.” Singletary confirmed this, referring to this incident, “Oh, that was the time I was flipped out on drugs.” Singletary was now “alert, aware, [had] affect” and did not “show any covert or overt signs of thought disorder or depression.” Dr. Boudreaux found “no need for psychiatric hospital or no available psychiatric RX.” There was “no illness to treat.” He was “not mentally ill.” Dr. Boudreaux reported that “Mr. Singletary had no home or job and this is why he got himself admitted.” Dr. Boudreaux concluded: “I see no signs or symptoms of schizophrenia,” and discharged him “regular, competent, able to work.”
Dr. Boudreaux’s conclusions were reinforced in August 1983 upon further examinations and the administering of a battery of psychological tests. He found that “the tests do not indicate any great difficulty at this time, either psychologically with a thought disorder, or with brain damage, to any significant degree.” Dr. Boudreaux again concluded that “there is no schizophrenic illness,” (emphasis in original), diagnosing Singletary as “Passive-Aggressive Personality,” and finding him “Employable.” Dr. Boudreaux’s conclusions are particularly significant because he apparently has been one of the psychiatrists who has seen Singletary over the longest period of time with some degree of continuity.
B. Dr. Roach
In February 1978 Singletary was examined by Dr. Roach of the Southeast Louisiana Hospital. At the hospital Singletary “entered smiling stating that he went home and argued with his family and that is why he came here.” He exhibited “no motivation at all,” but was “not psychotic.” Singletary had “vague paranoid ideations,” was “oriented” but “very immature.” Dr. Roach’s “tentative” diagnosis was “schizophrenia, chronic undifferentiated type” and “drug abuse, mixed.” Dr. Roach’s report does not directly indicate whether Singletary was employable, but recommends that he be encouraged “to establish a stable job situation” as a “short term goal,” implying that such a goal was attainable in the near future.
C. Dr. Dill
Dr. Dill of the V.A. saw Singletary on three occasions mentioned in the record. In June 1980 Dr. Dill made a “provisional” diagnosis of schizophrenia “from history,” apparently based on Dr. Boudreaux’s earlier misdiagnosis. However, Dr. Dill observed him as having an appropriate mood, an organized thought content, a good memory, a good orientation, with no hallucinations or delusions. While in the hospital, Singletary “repeatedly touched female staff in an inappropriate manner,” and “when he received a forty dollar check through the mail, he requested a discharge.” Singletary was discharged as “employable.”
In December 1980 Dr. Dill again found him “alert with no intellectual impairment ... cooperative and conforming,” with normal affect and psychomotor activity, “logi*825cal and ... well oriented,” and with a “good memory.” He was admitted to the hospital because “he had begun drinking and lost his job.” There was no psychosis or abnormal anxiety, and the diagnosis was changed to simply “antisocial personality.” Dr. Dill recommended no followup treatment, terming Singletary “employable.”
Dr. Dill saw Singletary a final time in June 1982 when he claimed that he had been living in the woods for six months, “ran out of medicine,” and used alcohol to calm his nerves. Although his affect was flat and his psychomotor activity retarded, his speech was spontaneous and his associations logical and rational. He was cooperative and “socializing well,” and discharged with a final diagnosis of antisocial personality and termed “employable.”
D. Dr. Covington
Dr. Covington wrote a fairly extensive report after his examination of Singletary in October 1982. Dr. Covington found Singletary alert, coherent, well-oriented and neither depressed nor euphoric. However, he was “manipulative” and “evasive.” Although his judgment was “impaired,” there were no gross psychotic manifestations, delusions, or phobias, and he could follow instructions, possessing “essentially average intellectual functioning____” Drawing largely from Singletary’s history, Dr. Covington diagnosed “schizophrenia, simple type,” but added that, based on his own observations, “I would not be surprised if he is at some point in the future determined to suffer from antisocial personality disorder.” Dr. Covington concluded: “At either rate, in my opinion, he is capable of maintaining gainful employment at the present tíme” (emphasis added).
E. Other Physicians
The record reflects that Singletary was examined in 1983 by at least four physicians, none of whom concluded that he was unemployable. Dr. England of the V.A. treated him in April for head injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Dr. England, apparently a neurosurgeon, reported no concrete examples of Singletary’s behavior in referring to him as “obviously psychotic and threatening to those around him” upon admission. Singletary was transferred to the V.A. Psychiatry Service in “stable condition.” A fragmentary report by Dr. Qazi states that he treated Singletary at the Slidell Memorial Hospital in May for an “extrapyramidal drug reaction.” A June report from Dr. DeVillier of the Slidell Mental Health-Substance Abuse Clinic suggests that Singletary was transferred there on an out-patient basis from the V.A. Psychiatry Service. Dr. DeVillier found Singletary “oriented,” not anxious, and discovered “no evidence of any psychosis or thought disorder.” Dr. DeVillier reported that Dr. Boudreaux had initially diagnosed schizophrenia in 1977, but noted that Dr. Boudreaux himself later found this diagnosis erroneous. In August Singletary was treated by Dr. Chu of the V.A. Dr. Chu found him oriented and coherent, diagnosing a “mild” dementia associated with the head injury. Singletary was unemployed and admitted abusing alcohol, LSD, speed, and other drugs, but Dr. Chu found that “[otherwise he appears to be functioning fairly well.” Dr. Chu did not state an opinion of his employability, but was encouraged by the fact that Singletary appeared to have begun a job search.
P. Dr. Provenza
The final entry in Singletary’s medical record appears to be an examination by Dr. Provenza of the V.A. in January 1984. A C-T scan of the head ruled out the possibility of a recurrent epidural hematoma resulting from the head injury. Singletary complained of headaches, which were “relieved” by injections of normal saline solution. “When he did not have any headaching, he came up with some other complaints, such as having a knot on his head which, in fact, was the old surgical defect. The patient roamed the hospital freely from floor to floor and did not appear to be in any distress.” Dr. Provenza’s conclusions appeared to be based exclusively on the 1977 then-repudiated diagnosis by Dr. Boudreaux: “Due to his diagnosis of the schizoid-type personality disorder, it is doubtful that the patient may be able to *826return to employment.” Dr. Provenza did not elaborate on these conclusions.
II. Singletary’s Testimony
Singletary’s testimony before the AU appeared rational and coherent. Asked about hallucinations, he answered:
Well, — sometimes, like when I’m walking along, like the other day, I was standing there by City Hall, and I was thinking, whether I ought to go by the VA Hospital, by the Mission, or by the bus station. I stood there and made up my mind, other than things like that happening, you know, nothing real major, you know—
He testified that “I get along with people, pretty good,” although he had been in fights. He believed that “in general” people liked him, although he had had problems with relatives. He complained that “nobody will give me a job no more.” However, when the AU asked him of his efforts to find employment, he was evasiye and never responded to the question:
Q. Do you do anything at all, besides just walk around?
A. Not really.
Q. When was the last time you tried to work? tried to get a job?
A. Well, I help different ones of my relatives, do different stuff every now and then, you know, but most of the time, usually when I help one of them, they said, I do more harm, than I do good.
Various evidence in the record suggests that Singletary’s principal problem may actually be motivational. A social worker reported that “he is without a job or a home and in his simplistic fashion he considers if he has pain he’ll be taken care of.” The record is also replete with evidence of Singletary’s abuse of illegal drugs, and once he admitted to a social worker that he had been selling drugs in the 1970’s. However, when asked once on a questionnaire “Do you feel that alcohol or drugs play any part in your present problems?” he answered “No.” When taking the tests given for Dr. Boudreaux, Singletary interrupted the questions of the female examiner with inquiries about her private life and off-duty time. However, with the other examiner, Singletary “tended to groan and complain continuously, stating ‘my head hurts, my back hurts, I’m disabled____’” He was found sleeping at the testing table on three occasions.
In sum, I believe that the record would amply support either a finding of disability or a finding of no disability. The AU is entrusted with making a wise application of the correct legal standards to the facts of this case. Accordingly, with the above observations, I respectfully concur.