Loren RANSOM, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Otis R. BOWEN, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant Loren Ransom appeals the district court’s order upholding a final decision of the Secretary of Health and Human Services that his disability insurance benefits were properly calculated. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand to the Secretary.

I

A.Background

Mr. Ransom has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia since childhood. For most of his life, Ransom’s mental illness has prevented him from being gainfully employed, and his earnings from his birth in November of 1923 through 1970 were only $6,189.04, with the majority of this income reflected…