Aleja Ramirez v. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare

Appellant Aleja Ramirez applied for disability benefits under 42 U.S.C. § 423, claiming that asthma and arthritis made it impossible for her to work. The Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare found that she had failed to establish a disability before 1963, when she last met the special earnings requirements of § 423, and denied the application. The district court affirmed, and this appeal followed.

Appellant’s claim of disability was supported only by a report by a Dr. Jose Villeneuve and by the testimony at the administrative hearing of appellant and her sister. Appellant testified at…