Medical professionals have one of the highest suicide rates in the country, according to an August 2018 study.
Estimates show that 300 to 400 physicians — the equivalent of one small medical school class — commit suicide a year. With about 30,000 med students across the country being placed in residency programs last week, The Boston Globe looked at the bullying residents endure and how this affects suicide rates of doctors.
“There's no question that bullying isendemic in medical education," according to the Globe. "One study revealed that about half of residents and fellows in the U.S. reported being bullied, most often by their attending physicians. Canadian researchers found that 78 percent of residents surveyed reported being bullied and harassed in their training, often by attendings or program directors."
Medical ethicist Arthur Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Boston Public Radio Monday that the best way to stop residency bullying is for the students to report any mistreatment.
“We encourage students to complain,” he said. “I get it, residency isn’t really a picnic, and you want to be tough. After all, you want to make sure they behave the right way and they know their stuff and they aren’t slacking off. But that won’t come from bullying.”
Caplan also said he believes that residents are treated poorly because of the low status they hold within the hospital pecking order.
“Residents are cheap labor," said Caplan. "They aren’t paid much. They don’t have a lot of clout or standing when they are still in training. So I think they get pushed around partly because they are the low person on the totem pole.”
