“Ashamed and alone”—healthcare staff need better support after a patient’s suicide

Every surgeon carries within himself a small cemetery, where from time to time he goes to prayRene Leriche (Quoted in Do No Harm by Henry Marsh)I was delighted to get my first consultant psychiatrist job in 2009 in an inpatient unit in inner London. In my second week, I had my first patient die by suicide. In my third week, another patient I’d treated died by suicide. In my third month, we had a very distressing and violent death by suicide of a patient on the ward. This latter death was initially treated by the police as a murder. This was a shock to me at the time, but I know now that this is not uncommon.After my first months as a consultant psychiatrist I was permeated by the experience of suicide. I could not understand how three patients I’d treated could have died like this and felt that I…
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