Study on Physician Mortality Yields Unexpected Findings

This article reports on a study which compared the characteristics of American physicians who died from suicide & natural causes. Surprisingly, little difference was found between the 2 groups in alcohol use or overwork; however 86% of the suicide victims had sustained personal or professional losses recently, & 60% had financial problems. Also, suicide victims often had unhappy family lives & were uncooperative with colleagues. (VM)