We talk a lot on this blog about addiction– especially the heroin epidemic in Ohio and the rise of gambling addiction in our state. Most of the articles we share deal with the effects addiction has on individuals and their immediate circle of loved ones, but the ripple effects of addiction reach much farther than home and family, and an increasing number of professionals are in the challenging position of dealing with someone else’s addiction. The excerpt below is from a timely article in the Wall Street Journal, recounting a financial advisor’s experience becoming involved in a client’s cocaine addiction and the difficult choices she had to make as a result. If you are an employer, contractor, teacher, consultant, service provider or colleague of someone you suspect has an addiction, you may recognize yourself in her story. If you click through for the full article, you’ll learn, among other things, that she called a lawyer before taking some decisive action. If you feel compelled to take action to intervene in someone else’s destructive behavior, seeking professional advice from a lawyer and/or qualified healthcare professional might be the best first step. Here’s part of Karen McIntyre’s story. Does it sound at all familiar?
When a client has a drug addiction, it often becomes an adviser’s problem, too.
Just ask Karen McIntyre.
She had lost a client who unexpectedly died due to medical negligence, but the late client’s 40-year-old husband stayed on. The man eventually received over a million dollars from a malpractice claim.
Ms. McIntyre, senior financial adviser at Wescott Financial Advisory Group in Philadelphia, then set up a cash reserve in the widower’s brokerage account which he occasionally accessed. The withdrawals, usually in small amounts, continued for several months. She figured he was spending the money on travel or collecting artwork.
Then he started to withdraw $500 a week, which became $500 a day. She learned he was fired from his job…
One day he arrived very late for a meeting, which was out of character. When he did show up, he was gaunt, unkempt and indicated he was indeed depressed.
Ms. McIntyre urged him to see a doctor. She then called him regularly to see how he was feeling. As time passed, his cash withdrawals increased. He became argumentative and demanding–which was also out of character for the usually mild-mannered client.
Then the adviser received a call from him. He was in the hospital. The man said he had an uncontrollable nosebleed and a “hole in his nose…”