Physician Suicide in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Physician burnout is a common problem among US physicians. Burnout has been associated with absenteeism, mood disorders, and medical errors. Over the last several decades, physician burnout has become more prevalent because of increasing workloads, increasing administrative burden, and time spent on electronic medical records, among several other reasons. The rate of suicidal ideation in physicians is almost twice as high as the general population. In addition, studies on mortality related to suicide show that the rates of suicides in physicians are consistently higher than in the general population. Firearms are the most common suicide method in both groups, while physicians are more likely to use poisoning and blunt force trauma, as physicians who committed suicide were more likely to have benzodiazepines, barbiturates, or antipsychotics detectable in their blood. Unfortunately, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) brought to the surface multiple prevailing issues in the US healthcare system, including physician burnout and the prevalence of suicidality among physicians in the recent past. With this editorial, we plan to discuss the current understanding of the impact on physician suicide in the context of COVID-19.