Court Opinion

ID: 9454423
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:46:19.451086+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:06.885110
License: Public Domain

COMBS, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. Osborne has a long history of injuries, illnesses, and hospitalizations, including treatment at some ten Veterans Administration Hospitals and Clinics. He has been treated for concussion of the brain, compound fractures of the left tibia and fibula, subtalar arthritis of the right foot on which surgery was performed, thrombophlebitis, osteomyelitis, post-traumatic arthritis of the right foot, intoxication of undetermined type, accessory scaphoids and osteoporosis of the left foot, flat feet, chronic alcoholism, and chronic emphysema.
Both the Hearing Examiner and the Appeals Council observed that Osborne is a chronic alcoholic. His medical history shows the use of alcohol since the *40age of nine; it has been a problem for at least twenty years, during which time drinking sprees have lasted for six months or more and on several occasions have been accompanied by delirium tremens and blackouts. Osborne admitted a hundred arrests for drinking.
Although there is disagreement as to whether chronic alcoholism is an illness itself or a symptom of an underlying emotional disorder, it is medically accepted that chronic alcoholism is a disease and a proper subject for medical treatment. Guttmacher, The Role of Psychiatry in Law 52 (1968); Jellinek, Disease Concept of Alcoholism (1960); American Medical Association: Report of Reference Committee on Medical Education and Hospitals, 162 J.A.M.A. 82 (1956); Diethelm, Etiology of Chronic Alcoholism (1955). Also see Powell v. Texas, 392 U.S. 514, 88 S.Ct. 2145, 20 L.Ed.2d 1254 (1968), [criminal responsibility of a chronic alcoholic]. From a medical standpoint, chronic alcoholism in many cases is a physical or mental impairment sufficient to prevent the alcoholic from pursuing a gainful occupation. That Osborne’s addiction may be remedial eventually is not decisive. For the purpose of determining disability we must take a man as we find him.
Assuming, however, that chronic alcoholism, absent a severe psychoneurosis or psychosis, does not result in disability within the meaning of the Social Security Act, 20 CFR § 404.1519, Osborne’s claim of disability is nevertheless meritorious. His addiction to alcohol is only one of several impairments which have contributed to his disability. The vocational expert admitted that Osborne could not return to his former work due to the injuries to his feet and legs. He was of the opinion, however, that he had the physical ability to perform certain enumerated sedentary or bench tasks. But once it is admitted that Osborne can no longer do his former work, then such factors as his age, education, work experience, and ability to adapt become important in determining whether he can perform another type of substantial gainful work. 42 U.S.C. § 423(d) (2).
Certainly, chronic alcoholism is a handicap in obtaining or holding a job. So, we have this picture: Osborne is a chronic alcoholic over fifty years old with only an eighth grade education. His prior work experience has been of a manual and, for the most part, unskilled nature; he is now unable to do this type of work because of physical disabilities. I think this man is unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity within the meaning of the Social Security Act.