Source: Daily News
By John Rhee
“It’s my life; why won’t you just let me die?” We had spent much time together during the weeks on my psychiatry rotation and had grown fairly close. Yet it wasn’t our bond that made her words so hard to hear. It was because she wasn’t dying; she was depressed.
Of course, at the time, none of my supervising psychiatric physicians acceded to her wish to end her life. On the contrary, they worked hard to help her see the value in her life with a combination of psychotherapy, counseling and medication.