Pushed to the brink by mounting debt, compassion and social media attacks from angry pet owners, veterinarians are committing suicide at rates higher than the general population, often killing themselves with ds meant for their patients.
On Jan. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the first study to ever examine veterinarian mortality rates in America. The results were grim: Between 1979 and 2015, male and female veterinarians committed suicide
between 2 to 3.5 times more often than the national average,respectively.
These findings not only reflect a higher suicide rate among all veterinarians but also suggest that women in the field are more likely to take their own lives, which starkly contrasts trends within the general population.
Considering the profession is becoming increasingly female-dominated (more than 60 percent of U.S. veterinarians and 80 percent of veterinary students are now female), the study’s authors suggested this trend could foreshadow even more veterinarian suicides in the years to come.
Additional research, including a 2015 CDC study that found
1 in 6 veterinarians have considered suicide,have shaken the veterinary world to its core, exposing a growing crisis that few knew of and others had sought to ignore.
▲Suicides among veterinarians become a growing problem
Veterinarian Robin Stamey and Gracie, her toy poodle. (Charlotte Kesl for The Washington Post)
导致这种现象的原因有哪些呢？
出人意料的是，兽医在美国是医学界竞争最激烈的领域之一。
One of the most competitive medical fields— veterinary school acceptance rates are comparable with medical school acceptance rates, but prospective vets are often asked to complete more prerequisite undergraduate courses — it’s a profession that attracts intelligent, driven people who, above all else, want to help and treat animals.
With little reprieve from a high-stress work environment that seldom provides an opportunity to take a break, eat lunch or go to the bathroom, many people’s work-life balances begin to suffer.
Another key driver of this suicide crisis: Veterinarians are consistently asked to act as animal undertakers. Euthanizing their clients can cause what a recent study referred to as
ethical conflict and moral distress,which arises when vets are forced to put aside their expert opinions and accept pet owners’ decisions about if and when to put their animals down.
