Are You Concerned About the High Rate of Physician Suicide?

With one completed suicide every day, US physicians have the highest suicide rate of any profession. In addition, the number of physician suicides is more than twice that of the general population, new research recently presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting shows.

Physicians who die by suicide often suffer from untreated or undertreated depression or other mental illnesses, a fact that underscores the need for early intervention, study investigator Deepika Tanwar, MD, from the Psychiatric Program at Harlem Hospital Center in New York City, told Medscape Medical News.

One recent tragedy underscores the seriousness of the situation. The suicides of a fourth-year student at New York University's (NYU's) Langone Medical Center, in New York City, and a psychiatry resident at NYU Langone Health occurred within a week of each other. The two deaths have sparked a wave of emotions and a renewed search for answers.

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Cite this: Are You Concerned About the High Rate of Physician Suicide? - Medscape - May 23, 2018.