Unmatched EM applicant commits suicide

[deleted480308]

I am confident that her medical school shares some blame in graduating her from their school, and her ultimately ending up going unmatched. When they graduate a M.D. from their school they are stating to the world that the have produced a doctor that is ready to begin residency. One that has made it through their rigorous curriculum. When she doesn't match coming from a name brand US MD school, one doubts the school's sincerity in awarding the degree and their efforts to help her match.

They either shouldn't have admitted her, shouldn't have graduated her or they should have helped her match to a residency program. Either way the school doesn't walk out of producing a US allopathic MD who doesn't match blameless.

We had people who weren't cut out for residency in my medical school class. Guess what happened to them? They failed out of medical school. They weren't stuck in the endless void of not matching and being driven deeper into depression.

Again, I think you are really overestimating your knowledge of what the school did/didn’t say and the willingness of a student to implement that advice. Your level of conjecture makes debate on the topic unreasonable

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[<L>]

We had people who weren't cut out for residency in my medical school class. Guess what happened to them? They failed out of medical school. They weren't stuck in the endless void of not matching and being driven deeper into depression.

This is a questionable take on mental health.

 

[akwho]

Again, I think you are really overestimating your knowledge of what the school did/didn’t say and the willingness of a student to implement that advice. Your level of conjecture makes debate on the topic unreasonable

You're right. It's a good thing when medical schools graduate unmatched residency candidates. They did a great job.

This is a questionable take on mental health.

Go ahead and explain further.

 

[deleted480308]

You're right. It's a good thing when medical schools graduate unmatched residency candidates. They did a great job.

You seem to be arguing against points that were not made

 

[MedHomoSapien]

Agreed. Blaming the match doesn't make sense. It appears there is a lot of underlying psychiatric issues. The match could have easily put her in a depression that she wasn't able to cope with.

She had done a prelim year per the article, so she had 1 year post grad training. I believe you can practice in some rural areas in some capacity since you can acquire a state license with one year of training. Also, applying to orthopedic surgery with red flags on your application isn't truly the best choice. People with stellar applications don't get in. And following this up with EM, that's still fairly competitive. She should have tried and applied to every family medicine program in the country. The outcome could have been different.

Either way, she had over come a lot, can't imagine going from jail to becoming a doctor. That is truly an amazing turn around which is impressive.

Agreed. Less competitive specialty is fine as well.

 

[TwistedTea]

It’s very sad any time anyone takes his or her own life. That being said there is likely more to the story. Maybe she should have applied to less competitive specialties knowing her history. The match did not cause this, it was personal choice. I won’t be quick to judge though not knowing the whole story.

it’s honestly sad the way medicine is going, making steps pass fail since it stresses people out, people wanting the match to go away because it stresses people out. Maybe we should just not make doctors take care of sick and rude patients because it stresses them out. Life is hard and will catch up to you sooner or later. No need to delay responsibility.

I also used to think it was meh for residency programs to take FMG. But then you see how well they do on step, research, work history and your like wow I wanna work with this person instead of the bottom quarter of my class.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

It’s very sad any time anyone takes his or her own life. That being said there is likely more to the story. Maybe she should have applied to less competitive specialties knowing her history. The match did not cause this, it was personal choice. I won’t be quick to judge though not knowing the whole story.

it’s honestly sad the way medicine is going, making steps pass fail since it stresses people out, people wanting the match to go away because it stresses people out. Maybe we should just not make doctors take care of sick and rude patients because it stresses them out. Life is hard and will catch up to you sooner or later. No need to delay responsibility.

I also used to think it was meh for residency programs to take FMG. But then you see how well they do on step, research, work history and your like wow I wanna work with this person instead of the bottom quarter of my class.

Ah the old "toughen up buttercup" argument. A real classic.

It seems like, contrary to the sentence before, you're a bit quick to judge after all.

 

[TwistedTea]

Yeah the article in the OP only mentions her awesome college performance and research in med school. Nothing about grades, step scores, that sort of thing - nor should there be, but maybe that's part of it as well.

Yeah we do not have the whole story. Obituaries never tell the entire story

 

[TwistedTea]

Ah the old "toughen up buttercup" argument. A real classic.

It seems like, contrary to the sentence before, you're a bit quick to judge after all.

Residency program directors seem to agree and as nearly everyone agrees above it is a personal choice. A very unfortunate one.

 

[MedHomoSapien]

The problem is that a lot AMG do not know that you can get an unrestricted medical license in ~33 US states after 1-yr postgrad training. I was shocked when so many of my co-residents do not even know that.

What does unrestricted medical license mean? Thanks for your reply.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

What does unrestricted medical license mean? Thanks for your reply.

It means you can hang a shingle and practice medicine if you want to own your business, go work at an urgent care unsupervised etc.