Article
What happened this week
On September 14, Reps. Haley Stevens of Michigan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania introduced a bipartisan House resolution recognizing September 17 as National Physician Suicide Awareness Day. The resolution honors physicians lost to suicide, acknowledges the pressure and trauma of clinical work and calls for national awareness and education. The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation are among the groups endorsing it. The observance was created in 2018 by the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine.
The scale of the problem
Figures cited in the sponsors’ announcement are stark. Physicians die by suicide at more than twice the rate of the general population. Roughly one in 10 report recent or current suicidal thoughts. Seven in 10 say there is stigma among physicians around mental health and seeking care, and more than half know a colleague who has considered or attempted suicide. About 55% report having experienced debilitating stress at least once.
Why awareness is not enough
In an AHA blog published September 14, Susan Szulewski, M.D., president and chief operating officer of McLean Hospital, argued that encouraging people to speak up only works if the organization responds well when they do. That means compassion, prompt access to treatment and a clear path back. She cautioned that wellness programs and self-care messages cannot carry the load alone, and urged leaders to examine confidentiality worries, access to care and internal processes that quietly discourage clinicians from seeking treatment.
Those processes sit squarely with executives and boards. They include credentialing and privileging forms, employee health practices, how fitness-for-duty reviews are triggered and how leaders talk about their own health.
Actions for leaders
- Audit your forms: Review credentialing, privileging and employment applications for intrusive questions about past mental health treatment, and limit them to current impairment.
- Make care easy and confidential: Offer clinician-specific access outside the home system so staff are not treated by close colleagues.
- Train managers to ask: Direct questions about suicide do not increase risk and can open a path to help.
- Report to the board: Track use of support services and turnover alongside other workforce measures.
If you or a colleague is in crisis, call or text 988 in the United States.
Archive entry for Sep 18, 2026, added Nov. 11, 2026.
Sources
- Rep. Haley Stevens introduces bipartisan resolution to honor National Physician Suicide Awareness Day (Office of Rep. Haley Stevens, Sep 14, 2026)
- Bipartisan resolution introduced by House representatives recognizing National Physician Suicide Awareness Day (AHA News, Sep 15, 2026)
- The Stigma Healthcare Still Has to Break (AHA News, Sep 14, 2026)