I was disappointed to hear of the autopsy results of the two Boston firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty (“Even bravest may need help,” Oct. 5, p. 6). As a member of a volunteer fire company, these findings are shocking to me. The Boston Fire Department needs to do quite a bit of soul searching to ensure that this never happens again.

The Boston Fire Department at one point had an employee-assistance program envied by many, which would have taken these men in with open arms. Has something changed? Did the City of Boston decide that one of the best such programs in the nation was something it could no longer afford?

The fact that the results of these autopsies have become public is abhorrent. That the press obtained these ostensibly private records and brought them to light is an insult to the lost firefighters’ families and friends, not to mention a violation of law and public trust. Finally, it is likely that the firefighters’ families have lost their eligibility for many of the state and federal benefits available to families of public safety officers who die while on the job. Please do not ever forget these families. While their loved ones may have made poor choices, they are left to bear the burden.

Philip Goldsmith

SAR ’96, ’99