They dedicate their lives to saving others, but they can't always save themselves.Doctors are at a higher risk of suicide compared to other adults.And it turns out physicians frequently decline to seek treatment for their own depression.Patrick Terpstra of Newsy, it's an online and cable news network, has our report.It's the focus of this week's segment on the Leading Edge of science and medicine.I can remember getting the call.As soon as she called and told me that he was, that he had disappeared, I think I just knew.North Carolina physician Mitchell Hardison was a popular family doctor with a secret.All of these guys are doctors in this photo.Even though they were my dad's closest friends, he wouldn't have talked about that with them.He was depressed, his daughter Anna says.The stigma around mental illness and medicine is so strong that I don't even think he would admit it to his closest friends.Honestly, I don't even really know if he admitted it to himself.Hardison killed himself three years ago.He was among medical doctors who take their own lives at a higher rate compared to the general population.A landmark 2004 Harvard study found male physicians were 40 percent more likely to die by suicide,and female physicians were 200 percent more likely to take their own lives.Research shows long work days, constant sleep deprivation, a sense of guilt and a fear of showing weakness are factors.I am a killer. That's a fact.
