We rely on our doctors as a first port of call if we feel sick or down and, very often, the last port of call toward life’s end for ourselves or our loved ones. But what is really going through our doctors’ minds? How do they cope with the stress and trauma in their everyday working lives?
Betsy Gall is a widow who was once living the American dream. Married to an oncologist with three healthy children, she was living a great life. That all changed on Thanksgiving Day of 2019 when her husband took his own life. Dr Matthew Taylor Gall who had devoted his entire life to saving lives, was dead at the young age of 49. Outwardly, Matthew had always been the life and soul of the party, holding everything together. From her loss, Betsy wrote The Illusion of the Perfect Profession, drawn from her diaries and her journey with faith throughout her horrific traumatic experience that left her family shattered and asking: How could Matthew’s suicide ever have happened?
Betsy discovered that doctors’ suicides is becoming a trend. In America, up to four hundred physicians kill themselves every year. In Britain, 72 medical professionals (including doctors, nurses, therapy professionals, dentists and midwives) took their own lives in 2020 – that is more than one per week. Are we asking too much from our doctors? Can we detect when they are facing a breakdown? Join Betsy Gall with Humphrey Hawksley to discuss this sad, yet incredibly important issue on Goldster Magazine Show.
