Lightfoot

ORDER

Plaintiff Lightfoot seeks review of a decision of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare denying her claim for disability benefits. The only issue is whether there is substantial evidence to support the Secretary’s findings. 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g).

Subsequent to a rear-end-automobile accident, plaintiff became unable to work at her usual occupation as a home health aide because of pain in her low back, neck and right arm. Medical testimony was conflicting, ranging from “no significant impairment” to “total disability.” The administrative law judge found that Mrs. Lightfoot “retains the residual functional capacity to engage in a wide variety of light and sedentary jobs, which are generally known to exist, and which are available in significant numbers in the national economy as well as several regions of the country.” There is no evidence in the record indicating specifically what sorts of “light and sedentary jobs” Mrs. Lightfoot is able to perform, nor any evidence that these jobs do, in fact, exist in significant numbers in the national economy. See 42 U.S.C. § 423 (d)(2)(A).

To circumvent this lack of evidence, the Government maintains that the Secretary may take…