Purpose

Doctors take an oath to save lives but are taking their own at an alarming rate, trapped in a toxic healthcare system that puts their lives and their patients’ lives at great risk in an epidemic that’s been covered up for decades—until now. The Iowa Medical Society has partnered with Des Moines University to have an exclusive screening of the film, Do No Harm. The event is free to physicians and providers in the community.

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness month and in support of the priority by Iowa Medical Society to address physician burnout, the DMU community of students, alumni, and IMS members are invited to attend a documentary screening and panel discussion on this important issue impacting the health care profession.

What’s killing our doctors?

Jumping off hospital rooftops, hanging themselves in janitorial closets, overdosing on drugs—they’re A students and their suicides are often like well-planned school projects. Doctors are our healers, yet they have the highest rate of suicide among any profession. Medical students and families of physicians touched by suicide come out of the shadows to expose this silent epidemic and the truth about a sick healthcare system that not only drives our brilliant young doctors to take their own lives but puts patients lives at risk too.

SYNOPSIS

“Do No Harm” follows four people bonded by tragedy on a mission to expose medicine’s dirty secret. Doctors and medical students pull back the curtain on the causes and cover-ups of why physicians have the highest rate of suicide among all professions. We learn it’s just the tip of the iceberg; a symptom of a much larger crisis in medicine. We uncover a link between the high rates of depression, burnout and sleep deprivation to an alarming number of medical errors including the preventable deaths of more than 250,000 people every year, making it the 3rd leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer to which Sen. Bernie Sanders says, “Why isn’t this on the front page of the papers every single day?” Learn more about the film. 

DNH TRAILER from robyn symon on Vimeo.

Main Characters

Hawkins Mecham is a 4th year med student who attempted suicide and was saved by a fortuitous phone call from his wife just before he bled to death. We follow him as he struggles through his residency in hopes of fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming a healer.

John and Michele Dietl are the parents of Kevin Dietl, who took his life three months before graduating medical school. We follow them during their first year after their loss as they turn grief into legislative action.

Dr. Pamela Wible is a physician, once suicidal herself, who now runs a hotline and a retreat and has been called a ‘guardian angel’ to suicidal doctors and med students.

Articles

• “What I’ve learned from my tally of 757 doctor suicides”
  The Washington Post • January 13, 2018
• “Physician, heal thyself”
  Huffington Post • July 19, 2017
• “Film to Explore Factors Contributing to Physician Suicide”
  Psychiatric News • March 10, 2017
• Discouraged? Depressed? Suicidal? Watch this.
  Pamela Wible, MD • December 28, 2015

Support

The Iowa State Innovation Model (SIM-IA) is supported by grant # 1G1CMS331400-01-00 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or any of its agencies.

Disclosures

The following speakers and planning committee members have no conflicts with commercial interest companies to disclose.

• Autumn Brunia, DO'19, Panel Member
• Nico-Al Gotera, DO'20, MPH'21, Panel Member
• Hillary Haas, DO, ABFM, AOBFP, Panel Member
• Sue Huppert, Planning Committee
• Erika Jaworski, DO'20, Panel Member
• Hawkins Mecham, Speaker and Panel Member
• Tammera Rogers, Panel Member
• Mike Romano, MD, Moderator and Panel Member
• Douglas Steenblock, MD, Panel Member
• Lisa Streyffeler, PhD, Planning Committee and Moderator