After class today we were told to stay a bit longer to hear an important announcement. I was expecting an update about President Traber (who did step down today) or maybe the Rice/Baylor merger plans, but instead we were told that one of our classmates had committed suicide. The student was an MS1 in my class, but I never had much contact with him and never really knew who he was. This loss is going to be hard for everyone at Baylor, but it is going to be especially difficult for his brother, who is also a student at Baylor.
This is the second suicide Baylor has had in two years. A MS1 also committed suicide last year during the first fall semester just over a year ago. It is hard to know how much the stresses of med student life contributed to these events, but what we do know is that med students are a very depressed bunch. I never got around to writing a post about it, but there were several good articles in the New York Times and on Slate.com about med student depression.
Baylor's administration has already been very responsive and I'm sure they will be continuing to work on ways to get students better supported as they start their intense medical education.
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2 comments:
Wow, I guess it's really important to always take time to relax and look at the bigger picture!
Sorry, that wasn't dad, that was me.
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