Emergency room nurse who committed suicide called US health care system her ‘abuser’ in scathing letter just months before her death
nypost.com
Tristin Kate Smith, a 28-year-old Ohio nurse, wrote a scathing letter to her “abuser” five months ahead of her August 2023 suicide.
You are viewing a single comment
I dare say that anyone working in healthcare knows a coworker who's committed suicide because of the job. I know I do and it still haunts me even though I managed to get out.
2 suicides, 5 COVID deaths, 2 of car accidents from sleep deprivation after getting off. Not to mention the miles long list of those suffering from mental illness, burn out, drug abuse, severe stress, and injuries from work
It pains me to read that you went through this. I really hope you can find something that keeps you happy so you can make it through the losses.
We do.
Luckily, I don't know of anyone for certain, though I know of some medical providers that openly shared their suicidality. It was A LOT of providers, way more than most would expect. They looked like defeated remnants of previously joyful people with aspirations and hope. Many of them said that they continued to work just to pay off their loans and help their kids avoid the situation they were in.
When I quit, I left the medical system entirely. For unrelated matters, I happen to learn a lot about the patterns that abusers use on their victims, and I saw a lot of overlap with that and how the medical system I worked in treated the employees, especially the use of fear, obligation, and guilt (ie FOG). I'm convinced that healthcare managers/administrators are soulless robots without empathy that find positions of power in medical settings because they can manipulate the system, especially the providers' innate desire to care for patients and the patients' desperate medical situation and lack of knowledge. It really is troubling.