Miguel GONZALEZ, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, Defendant/Appellee

This is an appeal from the district court’s ruling upholding the Secretary’s decision denying disability benefits. We vacate the decision of the district court and remand.

BACKGROUND

Appellant is a forty-six year old male with a sixth grade education. In August 1981, while working as a meat cutter, appellant slipped and injured his back.

Several doctors examined appellant and have given differing opinions. Dr. Edward A. Smith, a neurosurgeon, found appellant to be temporarily totally disabled in March 1982 and told him to stop working. One month later, Dr. W. Gordon Smith examined appellant and concluded that he was totally disabled.

In June 1982, Dr. William Rack found no objective evidence for classifying appellant as totally disabled and suggested that appellant return to work. From a subjective point of view, however, Dr. Rack stated that appellant “would appear to be totally disabled for any type of physical activity.”

In April 1983, appellant began seeing Dr. Richard Williams, a neurosurgeon. In June, Dr. Williams diagnosed a herniated lumbar disk at the L4-L5 level and successfully performed a hemilaminectomy. After the operation, Dr. Williams noted an improvement in…