Wesley Bedrosian


I HADN’T SEEN LARRY IN A DOZEN YEARS WHEN HE REAPPEARED IN MY OFFICE A FEW MONTHS AGO, GRINNING. WE WERE BOTH GRINNING. I ALWAYS LIKED LARRY, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A BIT OF A HUSTLER, A LITTLE ERRATIC IN HIS APPOINTMENTS, A PERSISTENT DABBLER IN A VARIETY OF ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES. BUT HE WAS ALWAYS CAREFUL TO AVOID THE HARD STUFF; HE SAID HE HAD A BAD PROBLEM AS A TEENAGER AND WAS GOING TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE.
Dr. Abigail Zuger on the everyday ethical issues doctors face.

It was to stay out of trouble that he left town all those years ago, and now he was back, grayer and thinner but still smiling. Then he pulled out a list of the medications he needed, and we both stopped smiling.
According to Larry’s list, he was now taking giant quantities of one of the most addictive painkillers around, an immensely popular black-market drug most doctors automatically avoid prescribing except under the most exceptional circumstances./.../