A fourth-year NYU School of Medicine student was found dead in a university graduate student residence hall May 1. Police discovered a suicide note on the scene, according to Washington Square News.
The student's body was found shortly before 11 a.m. May 1, according to the Washington Square News citing the New York Post. The 26-year-old student was reportedly studying radiology. She was on track to receive her MD degree from the New York City-based medical school later this month, Washington Square News reports.
The NYU School of Medicine confirmed the student's death in a May 2 statement to Becker's Hospital Review.
"Yesterday morning, we learned that an individual died at an NYU School of Medicine residence hall. She was currently a student at NYU School of Medicine and police are continuing their investigation. Counseling services are being offered to students, faculty and staff. At this time of sudden loss and grief, we extend our deepest condolences to the student's family, friends and fellow students," the NYU School of Medicine said.
Medical students are three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population of a similar age. Similarly, stress and depression are twice as common in medical students, according to the American Medical Student Association.
Experts suggest one of main reasons the suicide rate among medical students is higher than average is because students may be afraid to ask for help, as doing so may be seen as a weakness and may potentially negatively affect their academic standing or their medical career.
Another significant factor, according to David Muller, MD, dean of medical education at the New York City-based Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is burnout. Dr. Muller penned a letter in March 2017 addressing the August 2016 death of a student by suicide just before the school year began. He noted he couldn't "imagine what it must have felt like to be introduced to medical school with a suicide," and acknowledged the continuous pressure students face to succeed throughout their schooling and into their medical school education does not help.
"From their very first shadowing experience to their first foray in the lab; from high school advanced-placement courses and college admissions tests to grade point averages and the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT); with helicopter parents, peer pressure, violins and varsity soccer, college rankings, medical school rankings, medical licensing exams and the residency Match, we never let up on them — and it’s killing them," Dr. Muller wrote.
To lessen the burden medical school students face, Dr. Muller wrote the industry as a whole must change the way it defines performance and success, and to "stop pretending that high scores on standardized exams can be equated with clinical or scientific excellence."