A medical resident commits suicide. Here’s how one colleague mourns.

In the hour after I heard the news, I experienced the full spectrum of typical reactions to a physician suicide. One end of the spectrum came from the attending in a clinic, who when asked if the residents could go home and mourn their friend who just committed suicide, proceeded to tell me a story of how when her grandpa died before a final exam in medical school. She decided to honor his death by honoring her exam and told me how we need to learn how to be strong and continue learning and taking care of patients. She wanted us to talk about this event, and how we were at fault for not recognizing that our co-resident was having trouble and timely intervening before she tragically committed suicide.  She said “we” a lot, but I don’t think she ever realized what I wanted. All I wanted was to go home to a quiet place where I could take a moment and mourn the sweet girl with a lilt of childish speech pattern in her voice. She was supposed to be in endocrine clinic with me that morning, and we had wondered if she was sick. Clinic was uneventful, but on entering our noon conference, I was shocked by the tragic news. Earlier that day she jumped off the apartment building next to mine and committed suicide. I was stunned, how could this girl, who seemed so sweet, do something so drastic? How could we all, who pride ourselves on being a close-knit group of work family, have missed the warning signs leading up to this tragic event? The other side of the spectrum came from the ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Physician Psychiatry Residency Source Type: blogs