Wyatt Q. SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Otis R. BOWEN, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee

Wyatt Q. Smith appeals the district court’s order affirming the Secretary’s decision that Smith’s seizure disorder was not of disabling severity on the date his insured status expired, September 30, 1976. The Administrative Law Judge (AU) found that Smith was disabled prior to September 30, 1976, but the Appeals Council reversed that finding because of a lack of detailed medical records documenting the seizures from 1972, when Smith last worked, through 1976. Smith contends that the Appeals Council erred in three respects: it ignored evidence establishing his earlier disability from physicians who treated Smith after 1976, it reversed the AU’s findings on Smith’s credibility without giving a reason, and it failed to consider the record as a whole, including lay testimony. We reverse.

BACKGROUND

Wyatt Smith, who worked as a computer graphics systems analyst, last engaged in substantial gainful employment on March 15, 1972 and he last met the financial eligibility requirements for social security coverage on September 30, 1976. He was 26 when he last worked and 40 years old at the time of his hearing before the AU. The basis for Smith’s claim of disability is epilepsy-like seizure…