At [Hurwitz] Trial, Pain Has a Witness

At Trial, Pain Has a Witness (full text) - John Tierney; Findings Column, New York Times, Science section; 2007-04-22. Posted: 2007-04-23. Source

Excerpt: [Hurwitz] did get rid of the worst patients, he said, but he believed others were reforming, and he feared they would not get help anywhere else if he dismissed them. “I felt that I had a duty to the patients,” he said. “I hated the idea of inflicting the pain of withdrawal on them.”

Comment (DeLuca): In an increasingly crowded field, this is my favorite Tierney-on-Hurwitz yet. This one is not so much about the law or courtroom tactics. This one is about people who hurt; bad. About desperate people; dying people. And about the doctor who wasn’t afraid to welcome them; who wasn’t afraid to try and help.

As Billy once said, in a poem about his conviction, “With motive so pure, Why be afraid?” Damn, I miss him.

See also: TierneyLab blog - (you can check out the comments posted in response to his series on the re-trial of Dr. William Hurwitz)

Billy’s Lament and The Appeal - two poems by William Hurwitz; Arlington County Detention Center; 2005.

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