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Compassionate Medical Education Act brings emotional debate to the House

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Rep. Keith Frederick, R-Rolla, has succeeded again in passing the Show-Me Compassionate Medical Education Act through the House. He accomplished the feat last year, but the bill died during the tumult in the Senate towards the end of session.

However, the success of this iteration of the bill held new meaning for many int he chamber. The bill is focused on providing resources to improve conditions for medical students suffering from the effects of depression and those at risk of suicide.

Frederick stressed Wednesday that suicide in the medical community affected not only doctors and physicians, but the people served by those professions.

“We lose over 400 doctors per year to suicide,” he said. “That equates to one million people losing their doctor to suicide every year. That amounts to the output of three of our medical schools graduating their classes just to make up for the number of doctors taking their lives by suicide.”

He added that medical students were also at an increased risk of suicide, depression and mental illness due to the taxing nature of their studies since they are usually away from their families, friends and support groups and extreme chronic sleep deprivation.

Frederick also credited their brilliance as a problem because of a disorder called maladaptive perfectionism, noting the shock of no longer being at the head of the class could seriously bruise the mindset of those students in an extremely high-stress environment.

“They’re usually the people that are setting the curve, they’re super achievers,” he said. “In medical school, half of them end up below average.”

Another roadblock to those who desire access is that admitting a problem could make it difficult for potential doctors to continue along their chosen path.

“It is a red flag of the further progress of their careers,” Frederick said. “The fear among these young healers to be is that their career could be over.”

Frederick also choked up while reading a suicide note from a young woman who took her life in medical school.

In addition to Frederick’s tearful testimony, Rep. Genise Montecillo, D-St. Louis, who had a suicide attempt of her own last summer, provided her own take on the struggles that face someone suffering from depression and the consequences of mental illness.

Montecillo said she may never be able to teach again and that a clause in her lease means she could be evicted from her home.

“What makes me particularly sad and dedicated to this gentleman’s bill is that those people are being discouraged from entering the field of medicine,” she said. “Those are the people that have the compassion and understanding to help me.”

On Thursday, the bill passed near unanimously with the emergency clause attached.

House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said that this kind of legislation would hopefully be a place where the legislature and Gov. Jay Nixon can come together to make changes that both parties want to accomplish.

“We’ve had some initial conversations with the Governor about … mental health, and that’s actually an area where we’ve collaborated with the Governor in the past,” Richardson said. However, he also urged that both sides needed to maintain their promises if they were going to act on the topic and make meaningful laws.

“It’s important that if we’re going to work collaboratively we’re going to not only have us do our part, but I think the Governor will have to follow through on his part, and I think that means not holding money from these critical services.”