美国国家公共电台 NPR When Doctors Struggle With Suicide, Their Profession Often Fails Them

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

There's a myth that doctors are kind of like professional athletes. They can take the long hours and the emotional toll¹. In fact, doctors are more likely to die by suicide than the rest of us are. Blake Farmer reports on new suicide prevention efforts and a movement to rethink how doctors work.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALARM)

BLAKE FARMER, BYLINE²: Alarms go off so frequently in emergency rooms, doctors barely notice until a colleague gets wheeled in on a gurney.

KIP WENGER: And it's just frigging - you know, it's just devastating³.

FARMER: Kip Winger still replays the scene in his mind. A young confident doctor who worked with him in emergency rooms around Knoxville, Tenn., died in one of those ERs.

WENGER: So she had multiple self-inflicted stab wounds, for lack of a better word.

FARMER: An unavoidable danger of being a doctor - you know exactly how to kill yourself.

WENGER: She took appropriate measures if that makes any sense at all - in terms of Lidocaine and doing it right and using the right blade.

FARMER: She wrapped herself in a blanket, grabbed a Bible, got in the bathtub and left a note on the door. Don't come in. Just call Kip. He was a supervisor⁴ and a friend she'd confided⁵ in him about some relationship struggles. But nothing had affected⁶ her work. Then she became part of the grim but underreported statistics. Doctors are at least 50 percent more likely to kill themselves than the general population. This death sparked some soul-searching at her employer. TeamHealth is one of the largest ER staffing companies in the country. Lynn Massingale is one of the founders⁷.

LYNN MASSINGALE: A few of these things happened that were just so sobering. Young people don't stab themselves to death.

FARMER: It's been a touchy⁸ topic to address publicly though. TeamHealth began encouraging doctors to work fewer shifts. And they identified one of the most stressful times for doctors - when they're sued. They started pairing them with someone who's been there.

MASSINGALE: Now, we can't change the facts. But we can help you deal with the stress of that.

FARMER: Finally, to minimize clerical headaches, the company hired thousands of scribes who deal with record keeping during patient visits. Dr. Jeff Zurosky drags his assistant from room to room at a suburban⁹ hospital in Knoxville.

JEFFREY ZUROSKY: I'm going to be as gentle as I can. Does it hurt if I touch right here?

FARMER: He turns to his scribe, who makes notes in the electronic health record.

ZUROSKY: OK, so note postmenopausal.

FARMER: Technology has become a real frustration¹⁰ in a career that's full of stress from day one. Zurawski, who's an ER director, worries about his youngest docs with mountains of med school debt, eager to pick up shifts.

ZUROSKY: I tell them be balanced. Don't overwork yourself. Spend time with your family. Stay married if you can.

FARMER: Yet to some, the problem goes way beyond work-life balance. Family practitioner¹¹ Pam Wible, of Oregon, sees it starting in medical schools where long hours and little sleep earn high praise. She calls it abuse.

PAMELA WIBLE: These people who have been previously¹² abused are now the teachers. They're teaching the next generation of doctors.

FARMER: And when physicians seek help, they can jeopardize¹³ their medical license¹⁴. Wible has collected stories of nearly 1,000 suicides and attempts. One ER doctor, who didn't want to be identified, shared his experience.

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: You don't focus on the 99 you save. You end up focusing on the one that you lose.

FARMER: A 19-year-old came in with the flu. She returned in cardiac arrest. When he found out she died, he went to a dark place despite no history of depression.

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: You know, I guess, like all doctors, you put that Superman cape¹⁵ on. And you think you can get through it.

FARMER: Then the family filed a complaint that would cost him his job. So he swallowed a lethal¹⁶ overdose. Police got him to a hospital just in time. He'd treated untold¹⁷ numbers of suicidal patients but didn't know he was at higher risk than most. He lived to tell about it but has been advised not to identify himself publicly or else hinder his prospects¹⁸ of ever practicing medicine again. For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer in Nashville.

KING: That story is part of a partnership¹⁹ with WPLN, NPR and Kaiser Health News.

(SOUNDBITE OF TAPE'S "COMPANIONS")

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

4 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

5 confided   

v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等）

参考例句：

• She confided all her secrets to her best friend. 她向她最要好的朋友倾吐了自己所有的秘密。
• He confided to me that he had spent five years in prison. 他私下向我透露，他蹲过五年监狱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

8 touchy   

adj.易怒的；棘手的

参考例句：

• Be careful what you say because he's touchy.你说话小心，因为他容易生气。
• He's a little touchy about his weight.他对自己的体重感到有点儿苦恼。

9 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

10 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

11 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。

12 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

13 jeopardize   

vt.危及，损害

参考例句：

• Overworking can jeopardize your health.工作过量可能会危及你的健康。
• If you are rude to the boss it may jeopardize your chances of success.如果你对上司无礼，那就可能断送你成功的机会。

14 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

15 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

16 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

17 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

18 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

19 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。