John Broderick’s older son Steven — whose real name was not used in this story at the request of his family — was a happy kid. He had neighborhood friends, loved to draw, did well in high school. “He was one of the brightest people I’d ever known,” Broderick said.

But Steven began drinking in college, and his alcohol use increased to daily while in graduate school in Boston. After he earned a master’s degree, Steven got a job quickly, but was let go after six months. He lost a second job, too, and then moved home.

A counselor told Broderick — a lawyer and trial judge for decades — his son was an alcoholic, and encouraged he and his wife, Patricia, to take the tough love route. Thinking it was best for their boy, they asked him to leave home. After three weeks, he returned with no change

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