This summary from the web page of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers reports that the Supreme Judicial Court terminated a suspension imposed for failure to cooperate with a bar investigation. The attorney was a Vietnam veteran whose failure to respond was found to be related to post-traumatic stress:

The only violations the committee found fell under Mass. Rule Prof. C. 8.1(b) and S.J.C. Rule 4:01, § 3(1), concerning a lawyer’s duty to cooperate with bar counsel’s investigations. The committee credited testimony from the respondent’s psychiatric expert that the respondent’s failure to cooperate with bar counsel was related to post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric conditions. Still, in aggravation, the committee was concerned that the entire course of conduct reflected adversely on the respondent’s fitness to practice and contributed to the respondent’s failure to cooperate with bar counsel. Therefore, the committee recommended that the respondent receive a ninety-day suspension stayed for eighteen months on the conditions that the respondent continue to receive treatment for his psychiatric conditions, comply with the recommendations of his treating psychiatrist, and provide bar counsel with a release to permit confirmation of compliance with conditions.