Ida McDonald v. Otis Bowen, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Ida McDonald appeals from an order of the district court affirming the reversal by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the “Secretary”) of the Administrative Law Judge’s (the “ALJ’s”) grant of disability benefits to plaintiff. The district court’s decision is vacated and the case is remanded to the Appeals Council.

Plaintiff, a 52-year-old woman with an eleventh grade education, worked, since 1962, as a feeder inserting paper into a machine that binds magazines and catalogs. In 1980, plaintiff began to require hospitalization for back problems. In June…