Physician suicide: We need safe spaces to talk about it

"Suicide is a path, whether fast or slow, that a person chooses to take because of their own reasons. We certainly can never predict suicide or truly understand it. But with that said, every time it happens, it is a tragic loss of life that time can and will never heal.

We must do more to support our physicians in training, residents, and established clinicians. Like how we sit at the bedside with patients and listen to their stories, someone needs to listen to what doctors have to say.

This is an epidemic that we must address right now. We must shine a light on the underpinnings of stress, dissatisfaction, grief, guilt, and pain. And we must drag out of the shadows a broken healthcare system that burdens many of our physicians.

It starts with making it OK to talk about suicide and to foster an environment where it is safe for medical students and physicians to share their stories privately and publicly. We absolutely must create safe spaces for conversations to be had at all levels of medical education."

Ton La, Jr. is a medical student and can be reached on LinkedIn.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "Physician suicide: We need safe spaces to talk about it." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/physician-suicide-we-need-safe-spaces-to-talk-about-it.html)