Wanda S. FLATEN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant-Appellee

Appellant Wanda S. Flaten appeals the ruling of the district court affirming the decision of the Secretary of Health & Human Services (the “Secretary”) to deny disability benefit payments under section 223 of the Social Security Act (the “Act”), 42 U.S.C. § 423 (a)(1). Flaten argues that the district court erred because her current disability, resulting from degenerative disc disease, should relate back to a prior period when she required surgery and was unable to work because of effects of the same disease. Because the prior period of disability occurred before the expiration of her insured status, Flaten contends that she need not prove that her current total disability has existed continuously since sometime on or before the date that her insured status expired. In the alternative, Flaten argues that the district court erred in upholding the Secretary’s determination that Flaten has not been continuously disabled since her original surgery before the expiration of her insured status, because the Secretary did not present clear and convincing reasons for refusing to accept the treating physician’s retrospective diagnosis of continuing disability from the time of the original…