Hands That Save Lives, Ending Up In Suicide

Someone has rightly said that when you keep pushing the dust under the carpet, it’s bound to come out from the other end. Quite right as far as suicide rates in doctors are concerned. With the mental stigmas of doctors scarcely addressed and their depressed state of mind never given a second thought, even by the doctors themselves, the dust has begun to peep out from the other end now.

With over 300-400 American doctors committing suicide every year, using the same medical know-how they use to save lives, to eventually end their own, confirms an eyebrow raising reality hitting the government head on, demanding some concrete steps.

Call it the demands the profession makes on them, the trauma they see in their day to day lives, the suffering and the pain of millions or their personal problems. All these factors are slowly taking toll on the mental health of doctors in America, but they suffer in silence lest their careers be affected. However, when problems become worse, they know exactly how to end their lives using the medical knowledge gathered and mastered over the years.

"All physicians have access to neat, clean ways to commit suicide," said Dr. Robert Lehmberg, a Little Rock, Ark., surgeon who has battled depressiondefine and long considered suicide "an exit strategy if absolutely necessary."

Despite efforts by The American Medical Association, since the past two years, to prevent the problem suicide rates have not altered. Therefore, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has launched an educational campaign in hopes of making troubled doctors more willing to seek help.

Though the suicide rates in men are higher in general in America as compared to women, they are roughly found to be same in case of doctors.

One explanation is that most suicide attempts in the broader population are unsuccessful, while doctors know how to successfully commit suicide, said Dr. Erika Frank, who specializes in research on physician health.

The government needs to take concrete steps in this direction, instead of overlooking the problem any more, because in question here are the lives of those who have saved millions.