Bench & Bar March/April 2026

EL ABOUT THE AUTHOR BY DR. ERIC Y. DROGIN

DR. ERIC Y. DROGIN is a Norton Healthcare Louisville Hos pitals Medical Staff member with clinical privileges in adult psychology. A clinical faculty member of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, he also teaches on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School, where he serves as the Affiliated Lead of Psycholegal Studies for the Psychiatry, Law, and Society Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and participates in the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and the Forensic Psychiatry Service at Beth Israel Deacon ess Medical Center. Proud to be a Kentucky lawyer for the last 35 years, Dr. Drogin is a former chair of the ABA Science & Technology Law Section and a former president of the American Board of Forensic Psychology. Please contact him at eyd@drogin.net with your suggestions for lawyer mental health and wellness topics.

BOTTLED OR CANNED DRINKS: Drinks from unopened, factory-sealed bottles or cans are safer than tap water; however, use caution as vendors in some countries may replace bottled water with untreated water. Sometimes, a drop of glue can be used to mimic the factory seal. Car bonated drinks in bottles or cans, such as sodas or sparkling water, are typically safe because the bubbles indicate that the bottle was sealed at the factory and not tampered with. Avoid drinks that have ice. HOT DRINKS: Hot coffee or tea should be safe if it is served steaming hot. It’s okay to let it cool before you drink. Do not drink coffee or tea that is served warm or at room temperature. Be careful about adding things that may be contaminated to your hot drinks, such as cream or lemon. Sugar is usually okay to eat because it is a dry food. ALCOHOL: The alcohol content of most liquors kills germs that may have been pres ent in alcohol. When choosing mixers, such as fruit juices, follow the recommenda tions about what types of food and drink are least likely to have germs. Avoid drinks that have ice.

agency that extols the virtues of potato chips, sodas, and alcohol over those of fruits, vegetables, and fresh salads? Behold our tax dollars at work. It turns out, happily, that some issues transcend partisan politics. It isn’t difficult to discern how taking care of ourselves when engaging in work-re lated travel comports with considerations that reflect the guidance proffered by the “National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being” (the “Task Force”), an entity “conceptualized and initiated by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP), the National Organi zation of Bar Counsel (NOBC), and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL)” and made up of several

other “participating entities” from within and without the American Bar Association (https://tinyurl.com/ntflwb). The Task Force has identified six pillars or “dimensions” that combine to “make up full well-being for lawyers,” one of which is the “Physical” dimension, expressed in part by “striving for regular physical activity,” “suf ficient sleep,” “rejuvenation,” and of course “proper diet and nutrition” (https://tinyurl. com/ntflwb-report). Concerning the last of these, George Harrison—a Traveling Wilbury, after all—after all did warn us in no less an authoritative legal treatise than “Savoy Truffle” that “you know that what you eat you are.” We should truly govern ourselves accordingly.

What is there not to love about a governmental

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