David, whose name has been changed to preserve anonymity, had been working as a registrar in Newcastle in December 2020 when he took his own life while on sick leave.<\/p>\n
It happened just hours after he took a phone call regarding his return to work.<\/p>\n
He was 30.<\/p>\n
“It’s awful, it’s heartbreaking, this wonderful young man was no longer with us,” David’s father said.<\/p>\n
An ABC investigation has independently verified through colleagues, family and friends, that David was one of at least 13 doctors who have died by suicide in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory since 2016.<\/p>\n
Do you know more about this or have a similar story? Email wakatama.giselle@abc.net.au<\/a><\/p>\n The ABC has verified 13 doctor deaths in four states since 2016. (ABC News: Graphic by Sharon Gordon)<\/p>\n ‘You’ve ruined your career’<\/p>\n David had a mood disorder, which his father said was well-managed.<\/p>\n David’s is among 13 doctors whose deaths by suicide since 2016 have been verified by the ABC. (Supplied)<\/p>\n He said his son was overcome by the pressures many junior medical officers (JMOs) faced, including excessive rostered hours, limited or no ability to take annual leave and, in David’s case, alleged retribution for whistleblowing.<\/p>\n Ten months before David died, his father said he lodged a complaint that raised concerns about patient care while working at Calvary Mater Newcastle hospital.<\/p>\n David’s father told the ABC his son had believed the report he made in February 2020 was confidential, but he alleged there were repercussions.<\/p>\n “He was called by telephone [by a superior] and he was told, ‘You now have a black mark against you and you’ve ruined your career,'” David’s father said.<\/p>\n He said his son was shunned by some superiors after the report.<\/p>\n The ABC contacted the Calvary Mater Newcastle, which did not respond to questions about the allegations.<\/p>\n David raised concerns about the standard of care at Calvary Mater Newcastle. (ABC News: Dan Cox)<\/p>\n David was rotated to the John Hunter Hospital in mid 2020, where his father said he was denied a request to take annual leave, despite having more than 11 weeks owed to him after four years working for NSW Health.<\/p>\n The last shift<\/p>\n David took stress leave in early November, 2020.<\/p>\n According to his father, David wanted to be back at work about a month later.<\/p>\n “He felt ready to resume work in early December, aided by feeling very guilty that his absence was putting extra load on his colleagues,” David’s father said.<\/p>\n He returned to work a week before Christmas, but once there, his father said David’s shift was changed from a day shift to a night shift, which went against the return-to-work plan recommended by his doctor.<\/p>\n “He went back to John Hunter that night, and the system put more and more pressure on his brain and something broke,” David’s father said. David’s father says he was outraged when his son was sent an email within hours of his death. (ABC News: Giselle Wakatama)<\/p>\n David started sick leave again.<\/p>\n Within three days, he was contacted twice by hospital staff to discuss a return-to-work plan.<\/p>\n The 30-year-old took his own life in the hours after the second phone call.<\/p>\n “It was all just too much for him,” David’s father said.<\/p>\n The tragedy intensified when David’s father said an email was sent to David from a hospital staff member on the afternoon he had died.<\/p>\n David was sent an email about preventing further “inappropriate rostering” hours after he died. (ABC News: Sharon Gordon)<\/p>\n “He received an email to say, ‘Don’t worry, there will be no more inappropriate rostering,”” he said.<\/p>\n “I wrote back and said, ‘Yeah, well, there will be no more inappropriate roster or any sort of roster because within an hour and a half of calling, David was dead.'”<\/p>\n In May 2021, six months after David’s death, John Hunter Hospital’s general manager wrote to his father apologising for any incidents that “diminished [David’s] wellbeing or increased his distress prior to his death”.<\/p>\n David worked at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital. (ABC Newcastle: Bindi Bryce)<\/p>\n ‘Light-bulb moment’ for change<\/p>\n The tragedy rocked David’s friends and one of Newcastle’s most senior clinicians.<\/p>\n Royal Australasian College of Physicians president Jennifer Martin knew David and his father.<\/p>\n “To see the effect on the family, I think, was just crippling, and it was almost just a light-bulb moment,” Professor Martin said.<\/p>\n “You know, we cannot go on like this.<\/p>\n “I do feel like I’ve got a mouthpiece and a platform now to speak to this, and I should really use that because not everybody’s got that opportunity to speak.”<\/p>\n Jennifer Martin says it is important to stand up for junior doctors. (ABC News)<\/p>\n She said standing up for junior doctors had come with threats to her job, but it was important work.<\/p>\n “The college does a lot to reach out to trainees with their time in the college, through a supervisor, through the training support program,” she said.<\/p>\n “If people fail their exam or miss particular milestones, there’s a lot of support now.”<\/p>\n Young doctors in the Hunter New England Health District rallied in February this year after a human resources official accidentally sent an email describing them as “marshmallows”.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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