He had no children. Nothing worked for Willie. Like most terminal alcoholics, Willie was poor. He had once held a steady job as a cab driver but was now on welfare and living with his sister. There was certainly no money for an expensive alcohol treatment program even if he were motivated to join one.
Alcoholism is a certifiable and often incurable disease .
Except for a few specialized centers, most of which are expensive and closed to the uninsured, medical treatment is relegated to the effects of alcohol and not to the addiction itself. In truth, Willie Duncan's alcoholism was as untreatable as terminal cancer. Willie Duncan came to MICU to die. The method chosen by his body was exsanguination. He was admitted one day in June with massive gastrointestinal bleeding.