# medical professionals' suicide

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-professionals-suicide/717357>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [April 10, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-professionals-suicide/717357 "2015-04-10T18:13:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![admin\_mostlycocoa.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@admin\_mostlycocoa.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/admin_mostlycocoa.com)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-professionals-suicide/717357/1 "2015-04-10T18:13:45Z")

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By the time I was 40, two of my doctors had committed suicide, an older gentleman who was my opthalamologist (sp.?) and a young woman who was my gynecologist–hers was especially tragic as she was a really sweet person with young children.

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-professionals-suicide/717357/2 "2015-04-10T18:38:31Z")

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Might I ask what _Straight Dope_ column this is in reference to?

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-professionals-suicide/717357/3 "2015-04-10T19:25:10Z")

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Almost certainly the column is [Do dentists have the highest suicide rate?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2301/do-dentists-have-the-highest-suicide-rate), a column from 2001 which showed

> [@](#):
>
> PERCENTAGE OF DEATHS DUE TO SUICIDE
> 
> U.S. white male population 25 and older (1970): 1.5
> 
> U.S. white male dentists (1968-72): 2.0 (85 of 4,190)
> 
> U.S. white male medical doctors (1967-72): 3.0 (544 of 17,979)
> 
> U.S. white male population 25 and older (1990): 2.0
> 
> U.S. white male medical doctors (1984-95): 2.7 (379 of 13,790)

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-professionals-suicide/717357/4 "2015-04-10T19:33:01Z")

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Thank you.

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-professionals-suicide/717357/5 "2015-04-10T20:07:35Z")

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So, OP - having any trouble finding a new doctor?