Drink And Disability

The U.S. Supreme Court is sometimes asked to play God. Last week it turned down the chance to play doctor. In a closely watched case, the Justices declined to decide whether alcoholism is a disease. But they did rule 4 to 3 that the Veterans Administration is not required to view it as one. Two recovered alcoholics sued the VA when it refused to extend the period in which they were entitled to education benefits. Usually veterans receive such benefits only within ten years of leaving the service. The plaintiffs claimed that their drinking qualified them for a special extension offered by Congress to disabled vets provided their disability is not due to "willful misconduct." The VA, however, deems most alcoholism to spring from just that. The Justices ruled that the VA policy is acceptable. Even among those who consider alcoholism a disease, they argued, "the consumption of alcohol is not regarded as wholly involuntary." Though the decision is not expected to affect medical-insurance benefits or hospital treatment of alcoholism, medical experts and alcoholics' groups were dismayed. "I think the decision is wrong," said Kirk Johnson of the American Medical Association. "To say that primary alcoholism is equivalent to willful misconduct is an anachronism."