The day before Dr Chloe Abbott passed away, her young sister “begged” her to leave medicine.
The expectations were becoming overwhelming, the pressure suffocating and 29-year-old Chloe was starting to wear the toll.
But just a day later, on January 9, the young doctor took her own life.
In a piece published by The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, the paper reports an investigation launched on Friday into a spate of suicides among young doctors had already found at least 20 medics whose lives have been lost to self-harm.
Chloe Abbott was one of these doctors. Her younger sister Micaela told The Daily Telegraph from what she could glean from afar, the strain was growing too much.
“From what I saw, the expectations were brutal. This exam that was meant to be next month…it became everything to her,” she said.
In describing her sister as “so brilliantly smart”, Micaela told the paper it’s an industry where her sister was made to feel as if she didn’t measure up.
“Someone that had so much to offer was made to feel like, in the end, she wasn’t good enough, would never be good enough and anything she did would never be enough. It’s such a loss."
In a statement published on their website at the time of Chloe's death, The Australian Medical Association of New South Wales described the 29-year-old as a "champion of young doctors" and "one of the profession’s brightest young doctors".
Top Comments
The bullying, stress and long hours have always been there, not that this excuses it. As a resident doctor quite a few years ago I was bullied by a few nurses (yes it happens particularly to young female doctors), bossy registrars and elderly male consultant specialists. I once admitted being a bit stressed as an intern when a patient died but was told to just get on with it. No counselling or anything like that!
Something else has happened. Possibly the new postgraduate degrees designed to try and get people from many walks of life to become doctors, rather the former entry pathways where students entered straight from highschool and thus were more embedded in the system at a younger age and less likely to complain. It seems that these new young doctors have a bit more experience in life and are more likely to complain (a good thing) but for some reason may also react less well to the stresses of the position (not that this is any excuse - the long hours and bullying need to stop).
AHPRA will soon "protect patients" from all doctors because there won't be any! (I exaggerate) but nurse-practitioners, pharmacists and chiropractors get supported because they're cheaper, and of course can't afford the insurance.