https://goo.gl/Ue6NZb
Five years ago, I was at a memorial. Another suicide. Our third doctor in 18 months.
Everyone kept whispering, “Why?”
That was when I decided I had to find an answer.
So I started counting dead doctors. I left that memorial service with a list of 10. Today I have 757 suicides on my registry.
And I began writing and speaking about why doctors die by suicide and why it’s so often hushed up.
When doctors commit suicide, it’s often hushed up.
The response was huge: So many distressed doctors (and medical students) wrote and phoned me. Soon I was running a de facto international suicide hotline from my home. To date, I’ve spoken to thousands of suicidal doctors; published a book of their suicide letters; attended more funerals; interviewed hundreds of surviving physicians, families and friends. I’ve spent nearly every waking moment over the past five years on a personal quest for the truth of “why.” Guilt, bullying, exhaustion are big factors. Here are some of the things I’ve discovered while compiling my list and talking to so many people:
High doctor suicide rates have been reported since 1858. Yet more than 150 years later, the root causes of these suicides remain unaddressed.
Physician suicide is a public health crisis. One million Americans lose their doctors to suicide each year.
Many doctors have lost a colleague to suicide. Some have lost up to eight during their career — with no opportunity to grieve.
We lose way more men than women. For every female physician on my suicide registry, there are seven men. Suicide methods vary by region and gender. Women prefer to overdose and men choose firearms. Gunshot wounds prevail out West. Jumping is popular in New York City. In India, doctors have been found hanging from ceiling fans.
Male anesthesiologists are at highest risk. My registry also shows that most of these doctors kill themselves by overdose. Many have been found dead in hospital call rooms where they are supposed to be resting between cases.