This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Ralph Crawshaw, MD
Portland, Ore

JAMA. 1981;245(15):1527.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.—

The source of Dr Murphy's dismay with our COMMENTARY is only partially understandable. He attacks the use of figures as though they were used as statistics, which they were not. We did not attempt in any way to base statistical conclusions on our small sample, but used the extension, "if it could be extrapolated," which of course it cannot be, to underline the shock this epidemic had on the Board of Medical Examiners. They saw it as every fifth man they placed on probation killed himself.

Dr Murphy is looking for a great deal more than we are prepared to give him when he asks what is unique about this group of physicians who committed suicide, "apart from their circumstances of probation?" That is the point. These men were exposed to special stress that aggravated their condition. At the time probation left a man in a limbo of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?