JonathanSuicides among doctors is very high and almost no one has actually bothered to find out why.
Lovely article by Pamela Wible in the Washington Post.
Why So Many Doctors Kill Themselves:
I will post some excerpts which I found poignant and will add my thoughts too
Guilt, bullying, exhaustion are big factors
*this includes from superiors as well as from management, patients and their families.
Many doctors have lost a colleague to suicide. Some have lost up to eight during their career with no opportunity to grieve.
*I myself have lost 2 colleagues.
Suicide methods vary by region and gender.
*one of my colleagues hung himself and one overdosed.
More men then women.
*society expects certain behaviour from men and certain behaviour from women. This adds to the pressure. There is no outlet for emotions. We suck it up bottle it in and move on to the next patient. This is especially true in Emergency Medicine
Male anesthesiologists are at highest risk.
*every one from the surgeon to the family love to blame the anaesthesia if anything goes wrong with the patient. Any anesthesiologist out there will agree with me on this.
Lots of doctors kill themselves in hospitals.
*most of us spend upwards of 50 to 80 hours a week and more in the hospital. Most of us have no home or social lives to speak of.
Physicians often choose to die in a place where they've been emotionally invested and wounded.
*when I go home i never take my work with me. But there have been days I've never seen my wife because of our work hours not syncing. By the time i come home after night shift she has already left for her morning shift, and the reverse happens in the evenings. Only the kept/unkept bed proof of two people living there. She doesn't work in healthcare by the way.
"Happy" Doctors also die by suicide. Many doctors who die by suicide appear as the happiest most well adjusted people on the outside.
*there have been many days I go home quietly and just go straight to bed. My loving missus knows me well to let me be and give me space
Doctors are masters of disguise. Even fun-loving docs who crack jokes and male patients smile all day may be suffering in silence.
*our smiles hide a lot of hurt. Please keep that in mind the next time you want to tell and abuse a doctor.
Patient deaths hurt doctors. A lot. Even when there's no medical error doctors may never forgive themselves for losing a patient
*I rememeber the face of every patient I lost and their loved ones when I broke the news of death to them.
Malpractice suits can be devastating. Humans make mistakes. Yet when doctors make mistakes they're publicly shamed in court, on TV and in newspapers (that live online forever)
*People are happy to forward any incident on social media without bothering to find out the truth.
Academic distress kills medical students dreams. Failing medical board exams and not getting a post medical school assignment in a speciality of choice has led to suicides.
*one of my colleagues killed himself after he failed an exam.
Bullying, having and sleep deprivation increase suicide risk
*"ragging" is banned in Indian medical colleges and is punishable by jail yet it still happens & there are suicides as a result of it. Most of us have gone through that to later get abused & bullied by patient families
Blaming doctors increase suicides.
*medical institutions and governments love to blame doctors even when there is no fault of theirs. The Gorakhpur hospital children deaths were a recent example. Every Tom Dick and Yogi were quick to blame the doctors for those deaths.
Doctors who need help don't seek it because they fear mental health care won't remain confidential.
*in fact this is the exact reason why I have refused to talk to a psychiatrist when I had issues. Just couldn't be sure if the hospital management would be made aware.
Some doctors develop on-the-job post traumatic stress disorder. This is especially true in Emergency Medicine.
*I can vouch for this. My family feel that I have become emotionally numb and am not as talkative to them about my day as I used to be.
*being in the ER is hard. We are there for everybody's worst and also their best. And we have to maintain calm and be objective throughout.
Like everyone else doctors have personal problems. Yet working 60 to 80 or more hours per week means we have no time to deal with our own.
*I was working when my dad had his angioplasty and couldn't sit and support my mom who sat in the waiting room all alone.
Some people in the medical profession believe the public doesnt need to know that doctor suicide is a real problem as if the healer being in pain is shameful & would frighten patients
*I know a doctor who was forced to resign telling him couldnt cut it there when he seeked help
Healers, after all, also need healing
*next time you feel like yelling at your doctor or blaming him for something or abusing him. Think for a second. He is doing the best he or she can with limited resources with limited time with limited sleep and energy.
This was a pretty long read. Thank you those who took the time to complete it. I hope it helped a tiny amount to explain some aspects of our lives
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shirish@just1doctorwala I had seen 'Virus' (2019) movie and that explained a lot of what you are saying. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8941440/ You probably may have seen it. It was far easier to see and imagine what one would do in such a situation. Hats off to all the ER doctors.
@shirishag75 that movie is one of the few which encapsulates the happenings inside a government medical college and what doctors nurses and other staff go through
it was praised by all for its realism
Sai Vishal@just1doctorwala I had one cousin who was a Doctor who took his life and another cousin sister who is currently studying medicine but is bullied by her current batchmates and seniors as she stood up to them during raging. Rumors got spread and now pretty much the entire match just ignores her existence. Went into severe depression and flunked the exam. She used to be a person who spoke her mind but has become completely withdrawn. She is in her second year now and don't how things will turn out.
@Vishsai I'm so sorry about what your family is going through 😞
adheeth🐘@just1doctorwala thank you for sharing your story and others. I seriously hope all of you doctors/nurses can work out together the insane hours you folks are forced to work through. It's inhumane and a shift needs to happen.
@bull500 thank you for your kind words
Unfortunately change will happen but maybe will take far too long in our country to happen
Western countries are slightly better than us but not by much
@just1doctorwala slow and steady, you people will get there! 😇
Vimoh Live 🎙️@just1doctorwala Wasn't long enough. Feel free to vent whenever you like.
MODI❤HITLER@just1doctorwala have also heard about a lot of suicides among veterinarians.
@ullulullu possible
almost everyone involved in the various forms of medicine have huge amounts of stress and pressure especially in India where the general population is large and the number of medical professionals are so low that they are all overworked
almost everyone involved in the various forms of medicine have huge amounts of stress and pressure especially in India where the general population is large and the number of medical professionals are so low that they are all overworked
Ranjona@just1doctorwala everything you have said in this very honest thread points to the importance of recognising the need for good mental health. Not just physical health.
@ranjona precisely
Unfortunately for us in India nobody takes mental health seriously
We need to change this thinking and fast
@just1doctorwala am part of a lay group which works on raising awareness on mental health and mental illness. The demand and need for help are palpable and enormous.
Arpan@just1doctorwala @ranjona With such huge number of ignorant population changing the thinking won't be that easy. Also we have more than 30% short of basic requirements of mental health professionals.
@just1doctorwala @ranjona the country needs around 13,000 psychiatrists. To achieve an ideal ratio of psychiatrists to population is about 1: 8000 to 10,000 but currently has just about 3,500 - which is about one psychiatrist for over 2 lakh people! With regard to other mental health professionals the ratio is even worse - the need of Clinical Psychologists is 20,000 and there are only 1000 available; for Psychiatric Social Workers, the requirement is 35,000, but only 900 are available.
@Arpan frightening numbers
@just1doctorwala Yes. That's 2015 data.
@ranjona @just1doctorwala For a billion plus population we have around 1 lakh metal health doctors.
Majidkhan2901Well said