When will the suicides of physicians and healthcare workers be taken seriously?

Medicine is a difficult profession, both in terms of its education and its practice.

Some physicians define their work as more than just a profession, but as a way of life. And they are right... Internships, shifts, and patient loads are particularly challenging for physicians in this geography. Even though they sometimes overcome all kinds of difficulties and successfully pass various stages over time, there are those who reach a point where members of this profession, whose purpose is to "save lives," end up giving up on their own lives.

The data shared by IYI Party Group Deputy Chairman Op. Dr. Turhan Çömez regarding the rising suicide cases in society during the AKP government, which he brought up in recent days, was nothing short of tragic.

According to Turhan Çömez, who stated that a total of 75 thousand people have committed suicide in Turkey since the beginning of the AKP government, it is known that 51 doctors have committed suicide in the last 6 months alone. Just a few days after this statement by Turhan Çömez, who said, "These must absolutely be investigated and looked into," new reports of suicides unfortunately came from the healthcare community.

SUICIDE REPORTS HAVE BEEN INCREASING FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS

Suicide cases are, as is known, one of the sensitive topics in the media. Due to responsible journalism, it is very important not to go into detail in suicide reports so that the information provided about the case does not encourage others. Because suicide reports have a contagious effect and a tendency to be copied. While both physician suicides and all suicide cases occurring in the general society are visible in the media to a certain extent, it is also the duty of journalists to bring this issue, which has become an increasingly growing problem, to the attention of the public.

Although the suicides of two young people in the last week—one an assistant physician and the other a 2nd-year medical student—have caused an outcry in the healthcare community, there is, as always, no sound or reaction from the "responsible" authorities in the country who never seem to take ownership of the issue!

In the statement made by the Ankara Medical Chamber (ATO) following the two suicide reports, it was said: "Unfortunately, the number of suicide reports reflected in the public eye has been increasing for approximately the last 10 years.

We hear and know that our assistant physician colleagues in many hospitals are being worn down by mobbing, working in difficult conditions and with inhumane working hours, and are not being allowed to take their legally entitled post-shift leave.

We cannot accept the experience or normalization of mobbing, drudgery, the usurpation of education and leave rights, and irregularities in wages in any institution or clinic. We will not remain silent about physician suicides."

CHP Bursa deputy Prof. Dr. Kayıhan Pala, whom I consulted for his opinion, also stated that physician suicides should be examined and investigated, saying, "The existence of such a problem in our country is truly visible. When examining suicides, the conditions that lead a person to take their own life must be evaluated comprehensively."

431 HEALTHCARE WORKERS COMMITTED SUICIDE BETWEEN 2015-2017

The painful picture that emerged with a parliamentary question answered by the Ministry of Health in 2018 regarding the suicides of specialist physicians, assistant physicians, medical students, nurses, technicians, and other healthcare workers included in the ATO's statement was as follows:

**In 2015, 180 people, including 10 physicians, 71 nurses, and 99 other healthcare workers;

**In 2016, 129 people, including 11 physicians, 56 nurses, and 62 other healthcare workers;

**In 2017, 122 people, including 3 physicians, 53 nurses, and 66 other healthcare workers;

**In total, 431 healthcare workers committed suicide between 2015-2017 due to poor working conditions, pressure, mobbing, and living conditions.

A SENSE OF NO FUTURE PREVAILS AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS

The anxiety about the future that has dominated young people in recent years due to the impact of difficult economic and social conditions is also clearly at the forefront among medical students. It is stated that the idea of "having no future" is becoming widespread among young medical students, a significant portion of whom want to plan their careers and lives abroad, and that their hopelessness regarding their careers or lives is deepening.

MOBBING IS AMONG THE LEADING CAUSES

According to the data announced by the Ankara Medical Chamber; among the primary causes of suicide for physicians, medical students, and healthcare workers in Turkey are negative living conditions, mobbing, heavy and long working hours, arbitrary appointments, drudgery, devaluation, burnout, and a sense of having no future. Recalling the emergency medicine assistant who could not withstand the pressure and investigations they faced following a complaint made to the SABİM hotline, the ATO statement included the following expressions:

"These factors that drive physicians, medical students, and healthcare workers to suicide appear at first glance to stem from the structural problems of the healthcare system that cannot be solved, but they are also manifestations of the extremely negative socio-economic conditions our country is in.

The sense of devaluation experienced as a result of the mobbing and systematic pressure applied by managers—who were brought to office as a result of meritless appointments in hospitals and medical faculties—to our colleagues, especially assistant physicians, turns into a social trap that is not limited to the workplace. The increasing violence in healthcare institutions further increases the feeling of burnout and weariness."

As the Ankara Medical Chamber, the notes left behind by every colleague and medical student we have lost, or the testimonies of their relatives, reveal that these suicides are situated in a social context and that a cause-effect relationship can be established on a social scale. In this respect, the increasing suicides among healthcare workers can be evaluated as "anomic suicides."

Sociologist Emile Durkheim states that the increase in moral, ethical, and economic problems in societies and the spread of deregulation to all institutions lead to a periodic increase in suicides resulting from states of anger and weariness, and he calls these suicides "anomic suicides." "Anomic suicides" are related to the dissolution and fragmentation of the norms that hold the institutions and people in the society in which individuals live together, and Durkheim uses the expression "there are not suicides, but suicides" because this situation affects the entire society."