This week a distraught mother calls me about her son. His professor (at a US med school) repeatedly tells medical students they are “too stupid to be doctors and should kill themselves.”
A physician friend shares that the same guy tells his internal medicine residents weekly (for 3 years!) that they are stupid and “should kill themselves.” Even bullies other instructors.
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This FREE audiobook of Physician Suicide Letters—Answered, read by the author Dr. Pamela Wible, is dedicated to all medical students, to every child who has ever dreamed of being a doctor, and to all those who have lost their lives in pursuit of healing others.
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Dear Dr. Wible,
As you know I lost my son Sean Petro on Mother’s Day 2016 but he wasn’t found until two days later.
From the moment Sean was found by USC/Keck police in his apartment I have been treated by his medical school like a person with no feelings.
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Do depressed doctors go to doctors? Do they even seek help? What do depressed doctors do when they’re not helping you? Doctors have affairs. They drink alcohol and smoke pot. They steal prescription medications. They binge-eat crap, scream, and exercise obsessively. Depressed doctors contemplate suicide. They hide their feelings to prevent being punished by licensing boards or mistreated by “Physician Health Programs.” Fact: depression is an occupational hazard in medicine.
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Dear Dr. Wible,
I lost my beautiful son Evan to suicide four weeks ago. He was a second year internal medicine resident—a very smart, loving and funny man! He left a lengthy letter and in it he stated, “I do not want any attention drawn to this.” I have been crying all day reading your book and blog and I’ve seen the trailer of the film you all are making.
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Jon Azkue, a Chicago-area doctor, died by suicide just before completing his training. I first reported his death a few years ago. This is a follow-up story on his suicide. What really happened to Dr. Azkue? And why? In this podcast I break the silence on one doctor’s suicide.
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In this podcast, I share insights from a doc who barely survived his suicide attempt plus simple ways to prevent the next suicide. Listen in. You may save a life.
Dear Pamela, I’ve never been so happy to fail at something in my life.
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How long could you drive without dozing off? Maybe 8 hours? Possibly 10? How many hours do you think a long-haul trucker could drive without swerving into your lane? Would you ever want an 80,0000 pound rig coming at you with a guy behind the wheel who hadn’t slept in a day?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmy3FLtKp7U
This week a resident asked, “What do you say to suicidal physicians?” Great question! For an expanded version of the three simple things I say to suicidal physicians (applies to anyone who is suicidal), please listen to my podcast here and download MP3 for future reference:
1) I don’t say anything.
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This week I learned of yet another medical student suicide. Ari Frosch, a second-year student at Penn, died by suicide by walking onto the northbound tracks as a Boston-bound Amtrak train passed through Mansfield station. Amtrak trains do not stop at Mansfield station. Police have surveillance tape of the victim trespassing and walking right onto the tracks.
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In August 2016 more than 600 people came together in 11 cities across America to stand in solidarity—and to say “no more” to medical student and physician suicide. Here are some of the speakers from the event in New York where Dr. Wible delivered the keynote address.
(Dr.
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Dear Pamela,
You’ll never guess what happened to me today. Hours after the National Day of Solidarity to Prevent Physician Suicide volunteer webpage went live, I received an email stating that I am officially terminated from my psychiatry residency program. On this webpage,
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Letter I just received from an anesthesiologist:
Pamela,
I had previously written you about the death of one of our residents in the anesthesia department [of a prominent US hospital]. I had mentioned another death [confirmed suicide] of a former internal medicine resident who had just started his fellowship.
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A euphemism is a vague and indirect expression substituted for a fact to avoid something unpleasant or embarrassing.
Each year more than one million Americans lose their doctors to suicide. Across the country, our doctors are jumping from hospital rooftops, overdosing in call rooms, found hanging in hospital chapels.
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Doctor revived after suicide. Here's what he says.
