What's important in medicine - and what can lead some of our best to suicide
Powerful reminder of what's important in medicine - and what can lead promising, bright, young physicians to suicide.
Worth reading the Washington Post article, "A young doctor’s final words offer a mental health warning for others -- Will West, a 33-year-old who was training at George Washington University hospital in D.C., wrote in a suicide note that other residents are “at real risk.”"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/10/03/will-west-doctor-gwu-suicide-note-mental-health/
From the article:
There is no way to know for certain what led Will to end his life. But what is known, interviews with Will’s family, George Washington residents and national experts show, is that despite a growing acceptance nationwide of the benefits of mental health care, barriers persist in residency programs that keep doctors from seeking help during a time when many need it.
Many factors, experts say, make doctors at that high-stress, high-stakes stage in their careers vulnerable. Residents — medical school graduates who spend three to seven years training in their specialty under the supervision of attending physicians — can face grueling 80-hour workweeks on modest salaries. They can also feel compelled to hide their struggles, fearing the repercussions that disclosure might bring. Success in their programs is critical to landing the jobs that will launch their careers.
Will’s family believes the pressures of residency kept him from seeking the mental health treatment he needed. The questions that pull at them now: How many other residents are on the precipice of making the same choice, and whether changing the culture of programs across the nation can help them before it’s too late.
Doctors who receive mental health care may have to report it when they apply for jobs, medical licenses or insurance. The uncertainty of how that information will reflect on them can leave many hesitant to seek help, said Stefanie Simmons, chief medical officer at the organization Feist co-founded in Breen’s name, the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation.“
You are facing the decision of whether to put your future career, which is often your mission in life to care for others and use your talents to do that, at jeopardy by taking care of yourself in a way that you know you should be,” Simmons said.
“Imperfection is not allowed,” David said of his brother’s residency experience. “Weakness is not either. When it’s there, it’s treated with disdain instead of an opportunity for learning and growth.”
In interviews with The Washington Post, several residents at George Washington, who spoke on the condition 0f anonymity because of fear of retaliation, described feeling trapped in a stressful environment where some degree of depression seemed almost normal, causing doctors to go through the motions, lose interest in hobbies and count the minutes until they could leave the clinic to go home and be alone.
Will’s letter continued:There are other residents right now fighting a true life and death battle — one that is waged both inside and out at the clinic/hospital. Often that battle may cause symptoms that look an awful lot like laziness, lack of motivation or waste of intelligence, all unforgivable sins in our profession.
