The local hospital had labeled the cause of death as acute alcoholism. The news came from one of the intervention participants, a lawyer who had continued to try to help his fellow attorney. He reported that, to the end, the attorney argued that he'd bring legal action against the hospital if he wasn't immediately discharged. His words were made all the more poignant by the fact that he was struggling against a straitjacket, without which he'd have torn out of his life support equipment. This story needn't have ended so sadly.
Early intervention is the key.
By being offered help years earlier, this attorney may have chosen to live. To us, this man was an attorney in trouble with alcohol. His death leaves the profession with one less. How much more was lost, though, to his family a son, a brother, a husband, and a father. Early intervention is the key.