Edited version of article reprinted by the Washington Post July 14, 2014
An obstetrician is found dead in his bathtub. Gunshot wound to the head. An anesthesiologist dies of an overdose in a hospital closet. A family doctor is hit by a train. He’s decapitated.
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I asked why physicians were dying by suicide. Here’s what they told me:
“I definitely graduated from med school with PTSD. It has changed me forever. My mom’s friend that I have known since I was born saw me for the first time since I went to med school and she [told my mom],
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A psychiatrist in Seattle had picked out the bridge. At 3 a.m. he would swerve across his lane and plunge into the water. Everyone would assume he fell asleep.
A surgeon in Oregon was lying on the floor of her office with a scalpel. Nobody would find her until it was too late.
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Turn off your cell phone. Get off the grid. Take a deep breath and say, “Ah . . .” You are invited to Live Your Dream: Revolutionize Your Medical Practice, a healing retreat for physicians at Breitenbush Hot Springs.
Take refuge with like-minded colleagues who realize that healing health care begins within.
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Dear Gregg,
I’m thinking of you tonight. Five years ago your wife told me you died. You were at a medical conference. They found you in a hotel room with pain pills. You were just 44.
You gave your life to medicine. We all did. We just wanted to help people.
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Doctor revived after suicide. Here's what he says.
