The other week, I had an 18-year-old guy who came in unresponsive after overdosing on Xanax and Tylenol. We stabilized the patient, and when he woke up, I asked him why he did it. He told me that he was just doing some dumb stuff with friends. However, when I asked the father later, he told me his son has been more depressed lately and attempted suicide just last month by cutting his wrists. They didn’t seek help at the time for a variety of personal reasons, and it’s fortunate that the patient’s suicide attempt failed the second time. Fortunately, I haven’t seen a lot cases like this at my hospital, but still, he was so young. The patient had so much to live for.
- Sunset in 2012 from my medical school campus, St. George’s University.