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| Britain |
| A silent emergency: The rise in suicides among UK doctors |
| 2023-07-21 |
| [Aljazeera] London, United Kingdom — In the early 1980s when Amandip Sidhu was growing up in Harrow, a suburb on the fringe of northwest London, his South Asian family was one of only a handful of non-white households in the area. Having spent some of his childhood in East Africa, where his father was a civil servant, Amandip and his family keenly felt the racist microaggressions that were common across the United Kingdom at the time. This early experience of prejudice profoundly changed his brother Jagdip, who was five and a half years older than him. Jagdip decided that the best way to beat discrimination was to prove that he was better than his peers. "He was very much the golden boy, and everyone loved him," Amandip says. After leaving secondary school with top grades, Jagdip went on to tertiary college, which was at the time a prerequisite for entrance into university. Just to outdo himself, he made a request to the college to be allowed to take four subjects instead of the maximum three for his exams. The request was rejected, but Jagdip refused to be deterred. He bought himself a textbook and taught himself physics, eventually scoring straight As. Amandip found it tough being continually compared with his accomplished sibling. "I’m not academically gifted, and my dad would have a go at me about it sometimes," he says. "And my brother would step in and say, ’Look, just leave him alone.’ He was the only person my dad would listen to." Jagdip sailed through medical school, his scholastic record peppered with awards. Then he started work at Ealing Hospital in West London. Amandip recalls how his brother bought a new pair of shoes and, a short time after he started work, showed him his feet. They were bleeding and covered in blisters. Amandip was shocked, but Jagdip was pleased. He was so busy at the hospital that he had been rushing around for 10 miles (16km) a day. "He felt it was a badge of honour, the fact that his shoes were worn out, that he didn’t have anything to eat or drink or even go to the toilet," Amandip explains. It was almost as if these were accepted symbols of the dedication needed to be considered a good doctor by the profession and health systems. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #8 The shortfall in new doctors is being made up for by various ‘almost a doctors’ like PAs and NPs Who I suspect can only shut up and do what the Corporation tells them to do. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2023-07-21 20:12 |
| #7 the rise of the various Urgent Care and similar medical outlets has been of enormous benefit in the USA it has probably save many $ billions and prevented some staff shortages at hospitals |
| Posted by: lord garth 2023-07-21 19:52 |
| #6 The shortfall in new doctors is being made up for by various ‘almost a doctors’ like PAs and NPs. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2023-07-21 18:48 |
| #5 From the article: Around the world, doctors are two to five times more likely than the general population to die by suicide with female and junior doctors especially high risk. Here in the U.S. doctors have also been retiring at an increasing rate, and not just because the Baby Boom cohort reached retirement age, while the numbers heading into medical school have not been enough to replace them, never mind meet the increased needs of an aging population. And all that before the demands of COVID protocols. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2023-07-21 13:16 |
| #4 Not Covid Seppuku. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2023-07-21 12:18 |
| #3 In the Age of Sail the Royal Navy ship's doctor would drink themselves to death ...slowly. Futility does that to people. |
| Posted by: magpie 2023-07-21 12:08 |
| #2 Once a medical system requires euthanasia protocols to keep costs in line, the doctors are in grave danger. Only God can help. The prodigal Europeans needs to return to Him stat. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-07-21 10:10 |
| #1 You've got a job working for a government department providing minimal required services for a customer base that can't escape. Sound almost like the Postal Service. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2023-07-21 09:04 |