Beyond Blue and Doctors

Beyond Blue says that doctors are killing themselves at a higher rate than the general public, in fact the figures are quite alarming. The suicide rate among male doctors is one and a quarter times that of the general population and the suicide rate among female doctors is two and a half times the rate of the general population.


Depression and anxiety disorders are widespread across the whole community and doctors are not immune. They are trained to see the signs in others, but won't seek help for themselves.
Mental illness is the one subject no one wants to talk about. People don't want anyone to know they are suffering depression or acute anxiety because that makes them guilty of not being able to cope with life and that's a put-down.

The industry already provides counselling services for doctors but the AMA's Federal President Dr Andrew Pesce said "Some doctors don't go to those for fear of being deregistered. Just imagine that you are working under pressure and you might have developed - say a drug dependence. It may not be affecting your performance with patients now but it might be in the future. It would be better if you sought early intervention and get it fixed".

But here's the bottom line - currently the rules state that if you do go to a doctor's advisory group, they are obliged to report you to the Medical Board. Because of the high expectation in our professional obligations, doctors are now subject to being reported if they have a problem because it's thought they may be placing the public at risk.

A commendable rule but it needs to be changed. A new rule is needed to still protect the public but also give doctors the confidence to seek help without fear of deregistration.