Texas Doctors Re-examine Their Role In Preventing Suicide Among Patients

“It’s OK to ask questions, point blank, about suicide … and that’s what the medical community needs to be comfortable with.”

By Scott MorganDecember 4, 2018 5:03 pm, ,

From KETR:

Are you thinking about committing suicide? Dr. Sejal Mehta, a Plano-based psychiatrist, says sometimes a direct question like that is best when talking to patients who might be struggling with their mental health.

“It’s OK to ask questions, point blank, about suicide,” says Mehta. “And that’s what the medical community needs to be comfortable with.”

Mehta is part of the larger medical community’s effort in Texas to get general practice providers to more proactively identify patients who are in danger of taking their own lives. One way doctors can do that is by abandoning the idea that talking about suicide is triggering. Mehta says that contrary to what some may fear, including some doctors, asking a patient about suicide does not increase the risk that they would do it.

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