"When Suicide accounts for over 400 physician deaths
in the United States annually… at least those that are not attributed to drug use, attempted suicide, and mysterious fatal accidents that happen to physicians… it becomes a shocking statistic that essentially removes one medical school’s four-year classes each year."
The ramifications of these statistics in today’s world of rapidly increasing stress factors within medical practice predictably will become much higher as the numbers of governmental restrictions on fees and mandates for clinical medical practice keep piling up.
Every private medical practice physician is well aware of the necessity of complying with our governmental legal and financial rules that keep increasing each year, as well as the primary two escape routes that permit them to continue to practice medicine--become an indentured servant by joining a government regulated and mandated medical care facility after quitting private
medical practice and remaining in private medical practice while tolerating the government
abuses that all private medical practice physicians are increasingly forced to accept.
Private practice physicians face such choices persistently in addition to the extensive stressful problems of managing a medical practice business and avoiding medical malpractice issues.
When you add to all that, the fact that the government plan is to gain total control of healthcare, which requires total disintegration of private medical practice to do so, leaves little room to take an offensive stance.
After all, our reliance on the power of the AMA to protect us failed, physician unions failed to mature enough to strike for better benefits, and the democratic politicians who aligned with the big industries and labor unions against private practice freedom, there isn't much satisfaction in thinking that the situation will ever change for the better.
For physicians who have a future vision, even worse is coming. You see, the next step up for our government, after they have total control of healthcare, is to take control of the medical
profession itself. Who wants bureaucrats to dictate to physicians what, where, how, and when they are allowed to practice?
The problem is that the signs and symptoms of deeply felt resentment are commonly camouflaged by physicians who don’t care to expose their deepest thoughts, hurts, rejections, anger, rage, and mistreatment by others in the profession. We think we have it bad now, what about after that?
"It's no enough that we do our best; sometimes
we have to do what is required."
----Winston Churchill
Alternatives and resources are available...
The sometimes-vicious conflicts between groups of physicians practicing in the same community are far more extensive than the general public knows and are never discussed openly. Backbiting between doctors and rumors among their wives/spouses is widespread, but don’t tell medical students about that.
Just the thought that seeking the help of a psychiatrist for the depression/stresses you are experiencing might drastically affect your practice, reputation, and your stability in handling patients--depending on the medication prescribed.
Medical students could even get kicked out of medical school under such circumstances, especially at a time when you feel cornered between the intense desire to become a physician and getting the mental help you need at the time while in medical school.
Physicians have the highest suicide rate of all professionals, but about the same rate as in the general population. It means that the most intelligent professionals, physicians, have a harder time staying alive. When medical students and physicians recognize (and many don’t) they have a mental problem they rarely share it with their peers for all of the usual reasons.
Instead, doctors try to compensate for their mental problems in any way that they can. Many of you reading this may have already gone through this battle or continue to fight the battle.
Physicians are smart, learn the ways they can hide the obvious, and set up a habit pattern of managing their mental issues that may last for the rest of their medical careers… if they
live that long.
Continuously having to compensate for your mental problems that often reveal your mental weaknesses is a battle that few ever win as physicians.
That’s because at every turn there are critical medical practice stresses that keep piling up on you and sooner or later you have to decide to do something to reduce the mental and
physical pressure.
You may become unable to handle everything that stresses you. It pushes you into decision-making… the ones that are apt to ruin your life in one way or another.
Such timing of the decision-making process commonly happens as the result of some triggering event that becomes the last straw and they no longer have the mental clarity to get themselves out of the distress that normal minds could handle in a far more reasonable and
transformational manner.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) convened a workshop of 35 experts in 2002 under the leadership of Herbert Henden, MD, professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College. It included representatives from nearly all branches of the supportive organizations that work with and among physicians directly.
The purpose was to uncover the key aspects of depression and suicide among physicians and medical students and the need to change the professional attitudes and institutional policies to encourage physicians to seek help when needed. The consensus statement was published (Center et al. JAMA. 2003; 289:3161-3166).
Tracy Hampton, Ph.D., published an article (JAMA, September 14, 2005—Vol. 294, No 10) uncovering aspects of Physicians’ Psychiatric Health that contributed to the dramatic elevation in the rate of suicide, especially among female physicians.
Dying by suicide is 70% higher for male physicians than for men in the general population. The suicide rate for female physicians is between 250 and 400% higher for female physicians than for non-physician females in the general population.
Although the rate of depression among physicians is comparable to that of the general population, physicians’ risk of suicide is markedly higher. Depression and other mood disorders may be under-recognized and inadequately treated in physicians because physicians might…
- be reluctant to seek treatment
- attempt to diagnose and treat themselves
- seek and receive “VIP treatment” from other peers.
Most of the predictors are present to some degree in every physician during their medical school and medical practice years.
During the less stressful time between episodes of severe stress our mind has time to recover from the poison that comes with severe stress.
When severe stress is continuous, either because of the weakness of the doctor’s mental defense mechanisms to compensate for it or because of the kind of stressors that rarely subside… like marriage conflicts, the depth of the depression increases.
Think about how these predictors have affected you...
No reasons have been found for the difference in suicide rates among male and female physicians. A heightened rate of suicide is found early, as in medical school.
The various stressor factors commonly associated with depression have been studied and no solid evidence of any of these factors have been found to precipitate suicidal tendencies.
The one issue that stands-out regarding suicides among physicians is that physicians are much more apt to succeed at it because of their medical knowledge… and are good at it.
A newer focus on diagnosis and treatment of depression and risk of suicide seems to be aimed at medical students. Medical students are intimately interactive with large numbers of physicians during their training and their mental state can be much more quickly recognizable by
experienced physicians.
Help can be offered before students become fixed in their personal protective camouflage patterns hiding their mental state up to the time of their triggering event for suicide.
The belief and attitude that physicians can’t practice great medicine when they are depressed, under treatment, and followed by knowledgeable psychiatrists is unfounded.
The test of your personal feelings about that can easily be determined by asking yourself, “Would you be comfortable with referring a patient of yours to that doctor under these circumstances?”
You might be surprised about how many physicians around you are receiving psychiatric help and you will never know it. Depressed physicians rarely confide with their medical peers about their depression even when they recognize it is affecting them.
The professional obligation you have is to pay close attention to the common signs and symptoms of acute mental stress and depression in the physicians you associate with… then offer to help
them somehow.
One of the more recent and outstanding articles published by Robert Bright, MD, and Lois Krahn, MD from the Mayo Clinic Psychology and Psychiatry departments in 2011 on the topic of physician depression deserves special attention (Current Psychiatry, Vol. 10, No 04, April 2011).
What are the predictors of depression in physicians?
Symptoms of depression vary so much that we have to depend on the predictors of
depression. Predictors are the things that are understood to be overly stressful to
most people when they happen.
1. Difficult relationships with senior doctors, staff, and/or patients
2. Lack of sleep on a regular basis
3. Dealing with the death of loved ones
4. Making mistakes either in treatments or surgical procedures
5. Loneliness, so common among introverted individuals
6. 24-hour responsibility… such as in obstetrics
7. Self-criticism… perfectionist as a personality trait
8. Peer-Pressure and criticism both overtly and covertly
Better yet, manifestations of mental illness that goes beyond what a physician can hide or can find ways to compensate for...
1. Severe ongoing irritability and anger, sudden bursts of rage
resulting in interpersonal conflicts followed by remorse
2. Marked vacillations in energy, creativity, enthusiasm,
confidence, and productivity
3. Erratic behavior at the office or hospital (such as... performing
rounds at 3 am or not showing up until noon)
4. Inappropriate boundaries with patients, staff, or peers
5. Isolation and withdrawal
6. Increased errors in or inattention to chart work and patient calls
7. Personality change, mood swings
8. Impulsivity or irrationality in decision-making or action
9. Inappropriate dress, change in hygiene
10. Sexually inappropriate comments or behavior
11. Diminished or heightened need for sleep
12. Frequent changes in job focus and/or career moves
13. Inconsistency in performance, absenteeism
As you know, many of these manifestations can result from causes other than depression
and can be temporary in nature. Persistency is the tip-off to more serious conditions.
Be Aware: No one is immune to depression!
Regardless of your level of intelligence, tolerance to stressors, and your power of your self-discipline every medical practice professional is susceptible to depression and the
consequences of it.
A longitudinal study of medical students and residents at the University of California, San Francisco revealed how much of an increase in the depression rate is caused while in medical training and education modes…
- 15 to 30% higher than the rate in the general population.
- First and second year medical students depression rate was about 25% above the general population.
A study of 123 pediatric residents at three U.S. children’s hospitals by Fahrenkopf et al revealed that 20% of them were depressed. Follow-up was even more of a concern because these depressed residents made 6.2 times more medication errors than did their non-depressed peers.
Some personality traits can be your enemy...
Lifetime prevalence of depression among physicians is 13% in men and 20% in women… which are comparable to the general population.
Even though a Firth-Cozens study of primary care doctors revealed many factors that increase the risk of depression (see the lists above), a Vaillant et al study.
It showed that they did not significantly increase suicide risk in physicians… at least not in those medical students who did not have underlying psychological difficulties when they entered medical school/college.
The greatest personality trait predators, known to stimulate depression are
self-criticism and perfectionism. These two personality traits that most doctors have are silent avengers that work inside the minds of physicians.
From a distance, no signs can be seen of such violent turmoil of self-intimidation and guilt feelings, but when these progress into feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness you know
that thoughts about suicide and deeper depression are not far behind.
When observing a colleague’s response to a severe and known traumatic stress situation they have recently gone through, most physicians who care about the welfare of their peers will notice such behavioral changes.
Symptoms such as quick temper, declining performance, lack of focus, intolerance of perceived incompetence, and conflicts in relationships, even turning to drug or alcohol use and isolation
are a few.
What increases the risk of suicide?
The relative risk of suicide in physicians compared with the general population is between 1.1 and 3.4 for men and 2.5 to 5.7 for women, according to a review of 14 studies about physician suicide.
A survey of 4,500 women physicians found that female doctors are less likely to attempt suicide than the general female population. Their attempts, however, are more often lethal, logically because they have greater knowledge of toxicology, access to lethal drugs, and much better knowledge about how to accomplish it.
Suicide-risk comparisons among the various medical specialties is unknown.
What is it that pushes a physician over the edge?
General consensus agrees that nearly all physicians are candidates for suicide if the right circumstances exist. This hits home when a depressed physician finally comes to a mental decision for suicide based on lack of reality and reasonable thinking.
The Silverman study created a profile of a physician at high risk for suicide,
including the following…
- ·Workaholic white male age 50 or female age 45
- ·Single, divorced, or currently experiencing marital problems and already depressed
- ·Substance abuse and history of high-risking ventures
- ·Chronic pain or illness
- ·Significant changes in occupational or financial status
- ·Increased work demands--burnout
- ·Personal losses and diminished autonomy… disability
- ·Access to lethal means (firearms, medications)
Protective factors that lower the risk of actual suicide include effective treatment, social and
family support, resilience and coping skills, religious faith, and restricted access to lethal means.
In reality, there are at least a hundred ways to accomplish suicide, so trying to remove any
access to potential means of suicide is really a worthless idea and waste of time.
When a person has made the decision for suicide, they will pick a method to use based on
available opportunities, access, and persistence, wherever they are at the time. The battle of the
mind about yes or no going on in the last few minutes, even seconds, when the huge number of conflicting mental rationalizations are activated all at once, pro and con, about the only thought
out of that mess that produces the most important purpose for staying alive is mentally chosen, will prevent the suicide. Next time it may not.
The perfect prevention is to have a loving person appear out of nowhere and ask the person to not do what they intend. And that rarely happens because the suicidal patient pre-isolates themself so no one can interfere.
Behavioral studies have demonstrated that decisions between suicide and murder have closely related emotional factors that come-up suddenly as a result of circumstances present at the time.
It’s why there are laws that require a short period of incarceration for psychiatric evaluation when a lethal weapon is involved and the person has "talked-out" of suicide. This factor is validated by hundreds of murderers who kill people, followed shortly by suicide.
Barriers against getting help...
Physicians fear exposing their mental weaknesses because of social stigma, trusting a local psychiatrist, confidentiality, and recrimination by colleagues and especially the licensing boards.
The Givens and Tjia study showed that only 22% of medical students screened positive for depression sought help. And only 42% of medical students with thoughts about suicide tactics received treatment. Basically, medical students had similar fears to practicing physicians.
With the subjective and often threatening actions of medical licensing boards, most physicians intentionally avoid any action that might lead to a medical board action against them.
This is especially true when a physician’s disturbing actions in the hospital forces “restriction” of hospital privileges and they are by law forced to report that action to the medical board… hence, “probation” time is substituted which is not reportable.
So when you are assisting another surgeon and he or she suddenly blows-up into an
unprofessional barrage of expletives not fit for human ears about some action others present, you have a professional and ethical obligation to try and ease that physician’s pain that you know is
underneath it all.
And it will happen more frequently over time if nothing is said to that physician and no
help is offered.
Remember to walk a mile in that physician’s shoes. Put yourself in his position as it can happen to you sometime. You may need a reciprocal helper to avoid bad results.
As you probably know, avoiding any restrictive actions by the medical staff leaders keeps the entire situation away from medical boards and inside the hospital arena. Many physicians in such a circumstance that requires local action choose to accept a period of supervision to avoid privilege restrictions. It’s a smart move.
The lack of distinction between a psychiatric diagnosis and impairment stigmatizes physicians and impedes treatment.
Medical boards function like the crowd at bull fight...
When the matador is gored by the bull the crowd cheers. When the bull is killed or defeated, the crowd cheers.
Medical boards are not responsible to the physicians who come before the board for violations. Medical Board members are responsible to the state Governor who appointed them to the medical board, in a high position of authority and power.
It’s true, no matter how many physicians are board members, the civilian members vote on punishment also. Board members are satisfied with their actions whether you are punished or exonerated completely, like the crowds at a bull fighting event.
Recently the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is forcing medical boards, credentialing bodies, clinics, and hospitals to make similar queries to pursue mental health histories of applicants for
medical licensure.
Among other credentialing bodies, the same investigations are being pushed to sort out physicians with mental disorders that might be dangerous to their patients.
The Worley study reported a successful appeal to the Arkansas State Medical Board to revise its licensure questions related to psychiatric impairment following a cluster of medical student and physician suicides.
When the questions asked by the board are too specific about one’s psychiatric history, and the applicant is denied licensure because of truth telling, it increases suicide risk.
So they loosened up the questioning enough that applicants don’t need to lie about their psychiatric history.
Remember that medical board decisions are made by assigned board members that are not all physicians. Consider that board decisions are made subjectively by all members. Their voting is influenced by their moods, attitudes, and opinions of others at that time.
I witnessed a complete change in a medical boards favorable decision to that of a unfavorable decision when only one physician board member who disagreed, stood up and proceeded to attack the defending physician with biased opinions, personal insinuations, and remote possibilities of problems stemming from the background of the defendant physician.
The rant completely changed the favorable vote of every other member of that board to an opposing vote in 3 minutes.
The "set-up" for that to happen, is something every practicing physician should know about. Board members are from all different medical specialties, (Usually from 4 to 8 physicians present) but the other 30 specialties probably won't be represented when you are the physician being examined.
When, for example, an OBG board member physician brutally whiplashes the defending OBG physician, the other members of the board hearing the rant have no credible knowledge in OBG to refute the other board member's opinion, insinuations, and personal biases.
That causes all members of the board being forced ethically and morally to go along with the "bitchin" OBG physician's derogatory comments. Statements like, "I would never allow a physician with this history and problems to practice in my state, nor would I ever allow that physician on my hospital staff."
Such egregious and vocal judgments by physicians and members of the medical board are not only unethical, but also are direct inciteful actions that increase suicide rates in the defendant.
The common sense and fair option in regard to this situation is for the board president to delay the board's decision, order a personal doctor interview and review of the defendant physician's situation as well as his medical history in practice.
The board president has the power to do this, however, in the uncomfortable and conflicting circumstances present they rarely think to do this process. A personal attorney for the defendant doctor would see that this is done and save the physician a good deal of grief.
It makes one wonder how many other medical board decisions like this occur in the U.S. annually. No wonder practicing physicians have a great fear of being in front of their state medical board, especially those with treatable psychiatric problems.
The unchained power of a board member to destroy a doctor's career and life forever continues to be an egregious element of every medical board's vulnerability... and no doubt continues to be a credibility issue of all medical boards.
Is it any wonder that physicians fear medical boards and their unpredictable decisions and outcomes? I have advised any doctor who has been summoned before the medical board for any simple or complex infraction to always have an attorney with them!
Acknowledgement of the psychiatric history and treatment by the applicant does require a deeper investigation of the problem… probably requiring psychological and psychiatric consultations. At least that is a much more realistic means to weed out the bad actors.
Changing psychiatric diagnostic terms and definitions creates more confusion. The difference between a diagnosis of depression and bipolar II diagnoses is the difference to an applicant of being board-reportable and non-reportable.
The thrust of it is to persuade medical boards to use screening questions to ensure that they are seeking information about degree of professional impairment, not simply the presence of a mental medical disorder.
The problem with physicians treating physicians...
It’s called the “VIP” treatment which can end up being a friendship courtesy action taken rather than a clinical relationship action. The treating psychiatrist or psychologist has a strong tendency towards under-diagnosing the seriousness of the problem to avoid hospitalization of the doctor and the stigma attached to it.
In doing so, there’s an increased risk of suicide in a patient who faces an imminent risk of self-harm and should have been hospitalized for treatment instead. The suicidal ideation can easily be covered up by a physician-patient by saying the right things to throw off the questioner.
What do we physicians do when we recognize that other doctors are depressed?
And what has this article to do with the topic of medical practice business and marketing?
Are there any more good Samaritans left in our profession? Since state laws having to do with being a good Samaritan and the increased risk of lawsuits against doctors who stop at auto accidents to help the injured have changed the face of physician samaritanism, do you continue to stop to help the injured at auto accidents? It is a significant risk for medical malpractice litigation.
Just keeping up with each state’s Samaritan laws is a difficult process in itself. They are all different. Violations of the law are so variable from state to state it requires that you have a printed out copy of the state laws in your car as you travel across those states on your vacation trip.
I discovered that the risk of a lawsuit for doctors who stop at accidents to assist is more of a risk than I’m willing to take.
I say that because of my experience as a flight surgeon and flew on over 90 medevac combat missions in Vietnam where medical supplies and drugs were severely limited.
Discovery that a Navy Corpsman trained for six months could do everything that I was able to do on a helicopter medevac mission meant that the same circumstances are present at roadside accidents where most people are smart enough to do all that a physician can do to help, until the ambulance and EMT team arrives at the scene.
I connect these issues with the fact that most physicians who experience or witness an obvious unprofessional happening by another physician do not want to get involved, walk away, keep silent, and figure he or she will do it again in front of others and one of them will say and do
something about it.
One day I happened to become one of those irate physicians during a difficult abdominal surgery case. It shouldn’t have happened but at the time I felt there was no other choice.
My surgical assistant was a credentialed surgical assistant male nurse that I had operated with many other times previously. And I had been repeatedly irritated by his previous inattention to the surgical procedure while continuously talking, primarily to the anesthesiologist.
This patient had extensive adhesions which were attached to the iliac vein and artery. Retractors and their placement were critical to visualizing the dissection.
I purposely voiced my difficulty doing the process on several occasions, thinking that the assistant would respond appropriately by holding the retractors exactly where I placed them to see what I was doing.
I even waited for the anesthesiologist to sense my distress and stop communicating with the surgical assistant, and egging him on.
I would place the retractor in the perfect spot and within about 45 seconds the assistant let it slip out of place and occlude my vision and dissection. After the fourth time, I blew up at the assistant and proceeded to dress him down verbally for his poor assisting activities.
His inattention to a difficult surgery situation was intolerable and later I refused to have him assist me in the future.
Of course, his arrogance pushed him to deny everything I accused him of. Since I had never done anything like this previously, it shocked everybody in the operating room, silence followed.
They saw a side of my personality they hadn’t seen before, and it must have scared them all. I was near the end of the procedure so I elected not to demand a new assistant. The assistant continued to talk, but only intermittently after that until I closed the incision.
It’s obvious that this assistant irritated other surgeons because of his antics, but nothing was ever done about it.
I need to connect all the above issues now to describe what may often result from a physician’s behavior patterns, good and bad.
It’s about how much your behavior influences your medical practice business income and your reputation among your colleagues… and your whole medical career. It all fits into the categories of marketing called public relations, promotion, and customer services.
First, the positive effects of your actions...
Your reaction to a peer’s mental problems or suicidal thoughts…
Perhaps your experiences in the medical profession may be quite different than mine. After my medical practice experiences in the military for 5 years, HMO Kaiser Permanente for 3 years, hospitalist for 5 years, and private medical practice in OBG for almost 20 years, I write about what I have seen throughout my practice of medicine.
If you are aware of another doctor’s mental problems and make no effort to help them at a time when their deviations from normal behavior become obvious, you will place yourself with the 95% of physicians who do the same.
If you try to help that doctor when their problems are recognizable, you confirm the great compassion and empathy you have for others.
The doctor you helped, even if it was simply to point out to them their own symptoms that they may not recognize as abnormal were abnormal, will always be remembered by that
distressed physician.
This is especially true when they have not asked you for help them self. When they get better, they will repay you somehow due to a law of attraction called “reciprocity”.
Other people who know about the help you gave puts you in a position of being in “more demand” and more highly respected in the medical community.
It also demonstrates that you also have the same compassion for your patients… another valuable attribute that draws more referrals.
Saving the life of another physician is no different from saving the life of a patient. It certainly is a badge of honor to be responsible for such an action. Sometimes we do far more for others that no one knows about, but you know the pleasure you feel from it.
The ongoing debate about how to prevent physician suicide continues with no answers.
One thing is true; physicians who are trained to recognize the early and common behavior of those who are most susceptible to suicide are the ones that will have the best opportunity to make the greatest impact on prevention of the suicide.
A word or sentence of support and comfort spoken at the right time can create miracles to happen.
You aren’t obligated to perform ongoing psychological counseling. But a few gentle words expressing concern about for their welfare is key to moving them on to the professional
counseling level.
1. The importance of lessons we learn from experience…
If you weren’t reminded about the behaviors of physicians heading for career or life mental problems, how would you know what to look for in your own patients as well?
Suicide results from a graduated sequence of increasingly strong emotions and feelings. First, we are irritated by something that is usually forgotten soon after. The persistence of the same
irritation moves you to anger about it.
We as physicians often repress our anger, we’re professionals! Ongoing repressed anger over time moves on to significant and continuing frustration, as you know.
Persistent frustration that is not dissipated by some form of release or distraction moves on to depression, usually, because of the belief that nothing will change, help is not possible,
self-worth declines.
Bipolar depression is an early and treatable mental problem. Doctors tend to do anything to avoid this problem and to avoid the stigma and effects of being considered impaired, losing referrals, assumed to be unreliable and unpredictable.
Severe depression pushes the physician to react to their intolerable behavior, otherwise, they may have to quit medical practice or be forced to stop the practice. When forced to make decisions while under distress, the decisions are made emotionally, not from reasonable thought.
Emotional decisions are made without consideration of future consequences. Suicide decisions
are commonly made instantly and at an instant when all hope of recuperation seems impossible.
The decision is often forced on them by a single triggering occurrence that pushes them over the edge, which is all they can tolerate. They feel that they have to get rid of the “pain” at any cost
right then. Nothing else matters to them.
2. The negative business effects resulting from a doctor's pre-suicidal actions
and behavior…
A. You lose patients when you fail to treat them well. There goes money down the
tubes. Temper, bad moods, and lashing out will also cause office staff problems.
B. The dominant reason that patients quit a medical practice is because of the bad
way they were treated.
C. When your reputation includes a the confrontational attitude you will lose
all referrals.
D. Because patients are your single complete source of income in In most cases,
any personal issues you have that bothers your patients will come home to roost.
Your demeanor, dress, and words can cause far more harm to your medical practice business than minor mistakes you make in treatment of patients.
Most physicians will look at this article and wonder why I wrote it. Suicide among physicians is not a well-tolerated topic of conversation anywhere. But, you have to admit that when it happens it is always a tragedy for everyone around that physician.
If this conversation stirs up at least one physician to save another from suicide, it’s worth the time it took to write it. I had no idea about how many physicians commit suicide annually, my guess would have been maybe 50… not 400.
That amounts to a whole medical school full of medical students and doctors. Considering that about 19,000 medical students graduate medical school each year in our country, we lose 4,000 doctors each decade in our country that could be prevented.
Further, figuring that each medical doctor averages about 5,000 patients in their practice over time, then the 400 doctors lost to the profession would never get to treat about 2 million
patients in their careers that other doctors will have to treat.
No matter how you look at this issue, suicide of physicians is a huge tragedy that affects many more people than just relatives, family, and friends.
Why would you, a physician, care about what happens to other doctors? It’s their problem, not yours, right? You may be sad about your own patient that dies under your treatment, but does your compassion extend to other doctors?
----Professional Probe----
"OOPS, physicians must remain aware
of the factors that can end your
life and career in a split second.
Some have a long delayed fuse."
Some dangers physicians face are more dangerous than others. The most dangerous ones are
the ones that are unexpected and life threatening.
Suicide is one of those. The suddenness at which it happens and the symptoms that expose its probability are rarely recognized or predictable. Being alert to symptoms leading towards suicide can save the lives of patients and doctors if help is offered right then.
The path to suicide is paved with cyclic depression and mood changes. There is a pivotal trigger soon before action is taken, that, if recognized, can be defused by compassion. A trigger will occur again unless mental treatment is provided.
I often think that being in front of a medical board is a similar quantity of stress as attempting to defuse a bomb about the size of the one in this photo.
Articles © 2013-2022/CGG INVESTMENTS LLC. All rights reserved. #57, 3-16-22
