CHICAGO — A study suggests medical errors, job burnout and depression lead surgeons to contemplate suicide at higher rates than the general public.
Fear of losing their jobs contributes to surgeons’ reluctance to get mental-health treatment, according to the study. Nearly 8,000 surgeons participated. About 6 percent reported recent suicidal thoughts; the rate was 16 percent among those who’d made a recent major medical error, although it was not known if that was the reason.
Only about one-fourth of those with suicidal thoughts said they had sought professional mental help. In the general population, about 3 percent have suicidal thoughts and 44 percent of them seek mental-health treatment, other studies have shown. The study appears in the January issue of Archives of Surgery.
