By Bob Peters, M.D.
Few surgeries are filmed. All are stored in our bodies as lived experiences.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could erase certain memories? Ones we most wish to forget may impact us
forever—our traumatic cases. Our saddest moments pop into our consciousness and seem to never
leave.
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What is the least painful way to die? Why do people commit suicide painfully? Why do doctors commit suicide in such painful and scary ways?
First, we should agree that it’s better to say that a person has died of suicide than to say that they have committed suicide.
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View on NBC News. Full transcript below.
Medical Resident: Frustrating is way too benign of a word. It’s an infuriating system that we practice in.
Dr. Umut Sarpel: I don’t think most doctors get burnt out by doctoring,
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Burnout is a slang word for end-stage drug addiction first used on the streets of inner city America in the early 1970s. During that time, psychologist Herbert Freudenberger volunteered at a New York City free clinic treating addiction. He overheard the term and used it to describe himself and clinic staff in a 1974 article on staff burnout detailing long-term physical and psychological job stress.
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I’m Dr. Pamela Wible. I run a suicide helpline for doctors. I hear from a lot of physicians with distorted thinking patterns that limit our ability to reach our full potential as healers on this planet. Recognize any?
1. “I’m stuck in assembly line medicine.”
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What prevents us from being the doctors we always imagined? We enter medicine as inspired, intelligent, compassionate humanitarians. Soon we’re cynical and exhausted. How did all these totally amazing and high-functioning people get screwed up so fast? Attention: med students and doctors: It’s not your fault.
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Attention all nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, midwives, doctors and anyone else in health care: here are the top 10 warning signs that it is time to quit your job. The first three are mine. The rest are from colleagues. If you recognize anything on this list,
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“Burnout” is a smokescreen for rampant human rights violations in medicine. Am I losing anyone here? Let me break it down.
“Burnout” is a complete mental and physical collapse from overwork. Psychiatrists define it as a job-related dysphoria in an individual without major psychopathy.
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Doctors who complain about inhumane working conditions are often labeled as “burned out” or “lacking resilience” or even “disruptive.”
Their employers respond by mandating resiliency classes so they can learn mindfulness, deep breathing, or yoga. Victims get instructed in work-life balance, boundaries, and other ways to conform to their workplace abuse.
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Doctor revived after suicide. Here's what he says.
