Suicide is the second most common cause of death for medical students,
after accidents.1 Once they have graduated, physicians have
higher rates of suicide than the general population, and are consistently
at the top of rankings for occupational groups at risk of suicide.2
However, we should be careful to avoid alarming medical students
with these statistics. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for all
young people, not just medical students, and the higher rate of suicide
among physicians is substantially accounted for by their ready access
to lethal means of suicide.