Suicidal behavior among physicians referred for fitness-for-duty evaluation

Association of Physician Burnout With Suicidal Ideation and Medical Errors

“…Depression, substance abuse, impaired relationships, self-destructive tendency, and guilty self-concept 10 are associated with physician suicide. 7 Suicidal ideation has also been associated with occupation-specific factors, including practicing psychiatry or anesthesiology, 7 increased workload volume, 7 being evaluated as unfit to practice, 11 perceived medical errors by surgeons, 9 workplace harassment, and lack of empowering leadership among postgraduate physicians in training. 12 Previous research also identifies burnout—an occupational syndrome recognized by the World Health Organization 13 and experienced by physicians at epidemic levels 14 , 15 —as a factor associated with both depression and suicide in physicians and physicians in training.…”

Physician Suicide Prevention and the Ethics and Role of a Healing Community: an American College of Physicians Policy Paper

“…For example, physicians who die by suicide may be less likely to have experienced a recent death of a friend or family member, less likely to have had a recent crisis, and more likely to have experienced a work-related problem. 33 , 39 , 40 Perhaps because of easier accessibility, physicians who die by suicide may be more likely than the general population to overdose on medications. 39 However, it is difficult to generalize across physician suicides.…”

Physician Death by Suicide: Problems Seeking Stakeholder Solutions

“…Evidence of job problems around the time of death was more common in physicians who died by suicide than other suicide victims [15,26,27]. As physician behavior has been subject to increased scrutiny in recent years, more physicians have been referred for fitness for duty evaluations, peer conversations about behavior, and formal or informal sanction [28].…”

“…Complaints, litigation, adverse events, and negative attention generally have been associated with increased risk of physician anxiety, depression, and suicide. Formal and informal monitoring of physicians increased in 2008 after Joint Commission guidelines extended the responsibility for physician monitoring to institutions in which physicians may work [27]. Physicians facing adverse professional events often feel ostracized and at the mercy of an investigation that not only exposes their identities but could also result in restriction of practice or loss of licensure prior to a finding of guilt or negligence.…”