This ceaseless self-improvement is, in part, what enabled him to have such an amazing impact on the many patients whose lives he touched, but I’m certain it will have also contributed to his own death.Īs an aspiring academic, I feel guilty this is the bit where I should provide a carefully referenced, methodical review of the literature on physician suicide, but I just don’t have the energy. There was no celebration of that achieved, but a continuous drive to improve on near-perfection.

Unfortunately he also carried some of the more negative personality traits of a Type A, not least of which was being eternally self-critical. He was a classic Type A personality energetic, motivated and passionate with a work ethic that puts most doctors (a cohort seldom described as work-shy) to shame. This wasn’t through a lack of trying, though life always got in the way but we had worked together over a number of years, published together and repeatedly put the world to rights over the course of long emergency department night shifts, and his death has hit me far, far harder than I would have expected. I wouldn’t say he was a close friend, as such the frequently discussed “ beer after work” never quite materialised. A friend of mine killed himself recently.

My friend committed suicide quotes