As is SO common. Another recent suicide of Greg Miday MD who I will speak in detail about in Washington DC also received much more attention and accolades from the homeless shelter where he worked (they put up a plaque and did a fundraising walk) meanwhile his hospital and residency did next to nothing (or worse). I will attach 2 quotes below. One from the homeless shelter and one from his mom that she posted on my blog. Read carefully and ask yourself, "Why is our profession unable to take this issue on in a substantive way?" or "Why are non-medical professionals more willing to grieve for us and celebrate our lost lives than our own medical institutions?"
June 26, 2012
I had the honor of being Greg's friend and a co-worker with him at Gateway180 :: Homelessness Reversed, an emergency shelter for women, children and families. Greg was member of the Board of Directors at Gateway180 and he also provided leadership to our health literacy programming under the auspices of Washington University School of Medicine, Internal Medicine. He was a person committed to providing support and attention to our families and residents. His constant encouragement and focus on many different health needs of our families and children has strengthened our overall program, empowering our families to move into housing in 30 days or less. Today, we started a project for which he was a strong proponent - adding air conditioning in our 95 year-old, "oven-like" brick building. I think he would be happy to know that this project is moving forward and will be completed in two months. He knew that the children in our building, many of whom suffer from respiratory problems, will now have a more healthy environment. I will miss my friend. I ask God to bless and strengthen Greg's family and his friends, embracing them with the Peace that passes understanding. Sincerely, Rev. Dr. Martin Rafanan, G180 Executive Director
MDKK says:
Thanks so much for calling attention to this very real, and very serious issue. I am a physician (psychiatrist, fortunately) as is my husband. Our 29 y.o. Physician son died of suicide (now the more PC term that physicians should be aware of) in June of last year. We struggle everyday to understand the “why” of this. As you point out, the causes and contributing factors are many. He struggled with depression and alcoholism and was being monitored by the Missouri physicians effectiveness program. When he relapsed 1 week before he was to begin his oncology fellowship at a high-powered academic institution, he notified the board, then got drunk and took his own life (with a scalpel). No one at the hospital claimed to have any awareness of his struggles, worse yet, they cleansed the death notice we provided them of unsavory details. They clearly see his death as an injury to their institution. They have offered little in the way of condolence to us. This matter must be brought into the light of day. The lack of data about the number of suicide deaths is appalling. The monitoring people from the Medical Board ( who were the last to speak with him that day) have provided us with scant information. They told us that they did not plan any sort of internal case review. He was seeing a psychiatrist, but they never sought collaboration with him. They thought he was a “model patient”. So this is what oversight by the Medical Board provides to impaired physicians. Well, I could go on…..and probably will…but want to hear more from others. How can we take action? I cannot bear the thought of young doctors as dedicated and talented as my son dying in such a tragic manner. Your list certainly resonates with Greg’s struggle to come to grips with allowing himself to be human and vulnerable in such a highly competitive environment and to deal with the shame he felt about his very human vulnerabilities.
From:
http://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/why-physicians-commit-suicide/
