If the stigma of suicide prevents the care of our medical population how can we expect to get any reasonable care for others with the same impairments? Ignoring the situation won’t make it go away. Allowing people who have “good intentions” at best and power and control aspirations at worst instead of professionals who actually have knowledge of the condition and empathy will only continue to punish the suffering and create avoidance in the medical society. Read this blog entry. Educate yourself as to what happens when a group of people are taken advantage of.

Disrupted Physician

Physician Suicide.

Physician Suicide 101:  Secrets, lies and solutions by Dr. Pamela Wible, M.D., is now featured on KevinMD.com.  Please read and comment!   We need to use this as a stepping stone to start discussing the Elephant in the room; state Physician Health Programs (PHPs) organized under the Federation of State Physician Health Programs.  These programs once served the dual purpose of helping sick doctors and protecting the public from harm.

Taken over by the “impaired physician” movement the current manifestation is one of absolute power and unrestrained managerial authority with no meaningful oversight, regulation or accountability.  It is a culture of institutional injustice that is preventing doctors from seeking help for fear of being ensnared and monitored by them.  Those being monitored by them are subject to bullying, abuse and forced 12-step indoctrination under threat of loss of licensure.  Many of these doctors do not even have an addiction…

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