Meissl

ORDER AFFIRMING COMMISSIONER’S DECISION DENYING BENEFITS

Glenda Meissl stopped working in 1994 after her eighteen-year-old son was killed in a car accident. Meissl thereafter descended into a reclusive state for the next eight years, remaining in bed and assuaging her emotional pain with food. Meissl, who stands five feet four inches tall, steadily gained weight until she weighed 320 pounds, which led to her developing a number of physical maladies — including hypertension, diabetes, and degenerative changes in her spine. As Meissl recounted: “After my son died, I stayed in bed for a long time, and I gained massive weight. And my body just, like, deteriorated on me, and that’s where I lost a lot. And I didn’t realize what I was doing to myself until after I realized how big I am and how I couldn’t stand up.... [I ate food] because it was the only thing that took the pain away----I don’t want to be chained to a bed anymore.... I’m 47 years old, and for the last eight years, I have been living like a 70-year-old person.” (A.R. at 620, 621, 628).

Meissl applied for supplemental security income benefits on June 13, 2001, and a hearing was later held before an administrative law…