Alcoholism is a terrible disease

The grandfather of a thirteen-year-old boy I'd taken care of since he was a baby asked if he could talk to me before I saw his grandson.

"His mother hung herself last Friday."

The grandfather was bringing up the boy because the mother, whom I had never met, couldn't stop drinking.

"Was she ever able to get any sobriety? Was she ever able to take care of him?" I asked.

"Not really. It's probably a blessing for her that it's over." He never mentioned that the mother his grandson just lost was his daughter.

The boy was very small and said to be retarded because of fetal alcohol syndrome. As soon as I figure out what you should say to thirteen-year-old boy whose mother has just hung herself, I'll let you know.

"I'm sorry about your mom."

"......................................................."

"Alcoholism is a terrible disease."

"..........................................................."

"It's a terrible disease that killed your mother."

"Yeah Doc. That and the rope around her neck."

Prescribing a pill is far and away the quickest way to bring closure to a patient encounter. No prescription hangs in the air begging. Often the patient says, "So, are we done?"

I had no pills for the boy with the hung mother.

Mark Vonnegut, M.D.

Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Just More So