At the start of each interview, we make sure the interviewee understands the project and has provided meaningful consent. The questions we ask loved ones, friends and colleagues vary depending on particular circumstances, but they include a mix of questions that go beyond the circumstances of their death in order to understand who they were as a person.

Below are some of the questions we might ask in an interview, depending on the circumstances.

If you have any feedback about these questions or suggestions for other things we should be asking about, please write to us at clinic@journalism.cuny.edu using “Interview Feedback” as the subject line.

Biographical Questions

• What was your relationship to the person?

• What would you say were some of their defining features?

• Can you share anything about some of their hobbies, interests, or sports they played?

• What was their childhood like?

• What was their relationship with their family?

• What did their parents do?

• Were their parents together? Divorced?

• What was their citizenship?

• Were their parents immigrants?

• Were they or their family religious?

• Did they have any siblings?

• What was their marital status?

• Did they have any children?

• What do you know to be some of the toughest time periods of their life?

Their Path To Medicine

• Since when did they want to be a doctor?

• What was their path getting to medicine like? Did they have an alternative career-path?

• If applicable: If they were older than most of their peers, what were some of the unique challenges they navigated as a result?

• Do you know anything about the kind of support they may have had from family, or other resources in their pursuit of this path?

Finances & Debt

• How much did they pay for medical school? Were they an in-state or out of state student? 

• How did they pay for medical school? For their costs of living?

• Do you know if they had debt of any kind? (Not just medical school debt, but prior student loans, credit card debt, a new car purchase, etc.)

• If applicable: Do you know what impacts that debt had on them? 

Their Experience in Medical School

• What did they choose as an undergraduate major, and did they feel it prepared them sufficiently for medicine?

• What was their experience with medical school?

• Did they feel that medical school was one of the first times they were truly challenged academically? How did they handle that?

• How would you describe their performance in medical school? What about their performance beyond grades?

• Were their assignments graded on a bell curve or other unique grading system of some kind? If so, did that cause them stress?

• Were they receiving academic help or support in medical school? What kind?

• Did they grapple with expectations they’d set for themselves as a top student in undergrad vs. their actual performance in medical school? (Small fish, big pond)

• In medical school, what was their experience with clerkships or rotations? Did they develop an interest in a particular specialty? 

• What were some of the racial dynamics at their medical school? What was the racial makeup of students? What about the population of patients?

• What can you say about the experiences for black students at this medical school? What about other people of color?

• If Applicable: What can you tell us about their experience of being Black or a person of color in the medical education/training community? For example, Racism? Microaggressions? Other kinds of discrimination they may have experienced? What about during other time periods of their life?

• What were some of the citizenship dynamics at their medical school? What percentage of students were citizens of other countries?

• If Applicable: What can you tell us about their experience of being an international student at this school?

• Did being a medical student interfere with some of their community or other religious practices?

• If Applicable: What was their experience of sexism, misogyny or other gendered discrimination in medical school? What about sexism during other time periods or spaces of their life?

• Do you know of any affinity groups they belonged to or extracurriculars they participated in during medical school?

• Were there small group spaces facilitated by the school? (For example, such as a narrative medicine group or section?)

• Did they experience bullying or public humiliation/embarrassment in medical school? Burnout? Intense hours?

• Did they feel alienated from community or social support networks during medical school?

• Did they ever consider taking time off from medical school? Why?

• If applicable: What do you know about their experience with the residency match process? What were their feelings around match day? Were they excited/nervous? How much did they talk about it? 
  

Their Experiences in Residency

• If Applicable: What was their experience with residency?

• Did they feel that residency was one of the first times they were truly challenged in the workplace? How did they handle that?

• How would you describe their performance in residency? How were they evaluated?

• Were they ever accused of medical error, malpractice, or other similar allegation during residency? What happened?

• Were they receiving any extra support to improve their performance in residency?

• Did they grapple with expectations they’d set for themselves as a medical student versus the realities of residency? 

• What was their residency salary, or can you describe the average residency salary, from first year to final year of residency? What was their attitude about this salary?

• What were some of the citizenship dynamics at their residency institution? What percentage of residents there were citizens of other countries, or had graduated from medical schools abroad?

• If Applicable: What can you tell us about their experience of being an international resident at this institution?

• What were some of the racial dynamics of their residency institution? Other residents? The patients? The local population? 

• What can you say about the experiences for black or other residents at this institution? What about other people of color?

• If Applicable: What can you tell us about their experience of being Black or a POC resident at this institution? For example, what kinds of experiences did they have with racism and microaggressions? What about other kinds of discrimination they may have experienced? What about during other time periods of their life?

• If Applicable: What was their experience of sexism, misogyny or other gendered discrimination in their residency program? What about sexism during other time periods or spaces of their life?

• Do you know of any affinity groups they belonged to or extracurriculars they participated in during residency?

• Did they experience bullying or public humiliation/embarrassment during residency? Burnout? Intense hours?

• On average, how many hours were they working per week during residency?

• What kind of rotation or work were they most recently doing as a resident before or at the time of their death? What kind of shift were they working? (Night shift?) What were those hours?

• Did they ever consider taking time off from residency? Why?

• Did they ever express disappointment in choosing medicine as a career path or existential dread in continuing?

• How satisfied were they with the program/speciality they had entered?

• Did they feel alienated from community or social support networks during residency? 

• Were there small group spaces facilitated by the residency institution? (For example, such as a narrative medicine group or section?)

• Did they say anything about their residency program director or chief? If so, what kind of environment did they foster?

• Did they say anything about the chief of the department? If so, what kind of environment did they foster?

• Was their residency program unionized? If not, did residents ever try to create a union there? What happened? If so, how would you describe the union’s impact on the program?

Their Experiences in Fellowship

• If Applicable: What was their experience with fellowship? 

• How did they experience the transition between residency and fellowship?

• If Applicable:What was their experience in choosing a subspecialty?

• Were they ever accused of medical error, malpractice, or other similar allegation during fellowship? What happened?

• What was their fellowship salary, and what was their attitude about this salary?

Other Questions About Institution They Were Affiliated With

• If you were talking to someone who’d been admitted to the institution, and was seriously thinking of attending, what would you tell them—both good, bad, and neutral—to expect?

• What makes this institution stand apart from others? Is there a unique learning model?

• What can you say about substance abuse among medical students/residents at this institution? Alcohol? Recreational drugs? Adderall?

• What about prescription drug use, or diverting medication from the institution?

• Do you know of any deaths from accidental overdoses among medical students/residents at this institution? What about other employees?

• What distinguishes students/residents at this institution from other institutions?

• How might you describe the institution’s credibility among students/residents, when it comes to issues such as honesty, transparency and trust?

• What are the wellness initiatives in place at the institution? What are the perceptions of those initiatives?

• Describe the patient population they were primarily working with at this institution?

• Compared with other medical centers in their city, were these patients relatively more vulnerable? For example, were these patients lower-income? lacking insurance? Homeless populations?

• Did they ever discuss the stress of working with these patient populations?

• Were they given sufficient time to grieve and grapple with the loss of patients?
  

Professional Identity Formation & Acculturation

• If they were speaking to a young person interested in medicine, do you think they might encourage that person to go into medicine?

• How much do you think being a physician was part of their identity and self-worth?

• Did they think that their career path was keeping them from other goals, such as getting married or starting a family?

• If Applicable: If they had children, what was their experience with taking parental leave? What about balancing work and family?

Social Support & Social Life

• Was there ever a point in your relationship, either before their medical career or during, that their personality seemed to change?

• What was their support system like?

• What was their living situation? Did they live alone? Have a roommate? Who did they live with, and how close were they to each other?

• Did they have a romantic partner at the time of death? A recent breakup?

• What was their gender identity?

• Did they identify as LGBTQI? 

• If Applicable: What can you tell us about their experience of being LGBTQI? What kinds of discrimination related to their seuxal or gender identity did they experience, whether during their medical career or at another time? ? What about during other time periods of their life?

• Who were their other close friends and what kinds of social activities did they participate in?

• Were they any specific social affiliations or groups that they belonged to? 

• Did they have a pet, or were they considering getting one?

Access to Health Care & Stigma Around Care

• Do you know if they had health insurance? Was it through their school/residency? Or somewhere else?

• Did their health insurance cover mental health care? What do you know about those services?

• Do you know if they saw a therapist, psychiatrist or other mental health support?

• Did they ever express that seeking mental health might harm their career? Did they ever discuss being afraid that their mental health care would not be kept confidential from their colleagues or within the industry?

• Did they ever talk about mental-health-related questions on their state licensing board questionnaire?

• Do you know if anyone at their institution was aware of their struggle with mental health issues? Do you know if the institution took any action based on that knowledge? Did that have an impact on them?

• Did they ever take part in a Physician Health Program (PHP)? If so, why, and what was their experience with it?

  
  

Before Their Death

• We are getting into even more sensitive questions, so I just want to reiterate my earlier offer about taking a break. Otherwise I want to ask you questions about the suicide.

• What can you share about the lead-up to their suicide?

• Did they experience a recent loss of job or income?

• Did they recently receive the results of an important test or exam?

• Did they experience a recent loss of a loved one? If yes, what happened, and did they take time off or get grief counseling?

• Did they express dread about their next rotation/clerkship/internship, etc?

• Were they about to start a new work experience, such as a new clerkship, rotation, shift, etc?

• Had they become isolated from friends?

• Did people around them ever express concern about their wellbeing or functioning?

• Did they ever discuss suicide with you? Did you ever hear of that secondhand from someone else?

• How did the suicide happen? 

• Where did the suicide occur? 

• What was the means of suicide?

• Did they have access to a firearm?

• What was the time of death?

• Was anyone else with them?

• How were they discovered? Were police involved? Was there a police welfare check?

• Did they leave a note or anything else for loved ones/others? What did it say, or what was it?

• How did you find out?

Afterwards

• How did their family grapple with the loss? 

• Did the family feel a stigma around the fact that this was a suicide? Did they want that information to be private for any reason?

• Was there a memorial service? What was it like?

• Was there any media coverage of their death? How was that received by family and friends? What about social media?

• Do you know if anyone else in their life had died by suicide— a family member? A friend? 

• Do you know if anyone else at their institution died by suicide?

• How did the institution respond? Was there a public acknowledgement? Was there a public memorial or honoring? Did they make any official changes after the death?

• If Applicable: Can you share the email the institution sent out after their death?

• Did they have a life insurance policy, and was it paid out to their next of kin after their death?

• Was there a lawsuit associated with or involving their death?

Medical/Health History

• What was their level of physical activity? (For example, did they play any sports, and how frequently? 

• Did they have a disability of any kind?

• Did they have trouble sleeping?  Were they getting enough sleep?

• Did they ever abuse substances—whether alcohol, illicit drugs, prescription medication?

• Do you know what medications they took? 

• Did they take Adderall? Accutane?

• Did they ever have chronic pain or a physical illness?

• Did they have a history of depression? Anxiety?

• Do they have a history of seasonal affective disorder?

• Had they ever attempted suicide before?

• Did they have an eating disorder?

• Had they undergone rapid weight loss or gain, or have any other notable changes to their physical appearance?

• Did they have any auto-immune conditions?

• Did they have any of the following? 

  • Bipolar Disorder? 

  • Borderline Personality Disorder?

  • ADHD 

  • Asthma

  • Back pain 

  • Brain injury 

  • Cancer 

  • Congestive heart failure 

  • Diabetes 

  • Epilepsy 

  • HIV/AIDS 

  • Hypothyroidism? 

  • Heart disease 

  • High blood pressure 

  • Migraine 

  • Parkinson's disease   

  • Traumatic Stress / PTSD?

  • Schizophrenia? 

• Do you know if they experienced sexual abuse? Other physical abuse?

• Did they have a family history of psychiatric or psychological disorders?

Significant Social and Political Events

• Were there any political events or social phenomena that affected them before their death?

• If Applicable: How did Covid impact them?

• If Applicable: How did the recent BLM protests impact them?

• If Applicable: If they were a medical student with international citizenship, how were they affected by the directive that ICE released in the summer of 2020 stating that international students who were taking an online course load could not remain in the U.S. in the fall?

What Can Help?

• What’s your sense of the role of institutions like AAMC, ACGME, and AMA in improving mental health and wellbeing for medical students/medical residents/fellows?

• For non-medical professionals: Do you feel like there is adequate oversight of medical student/medical resident wellbeing at an industry level?

• Do you think there is a lesson here that others could take away from their passing that might prevent something like this from happening to someone else?

• Is there something you think medical institutions could do that might help? 
  
  

Wrapping Up

• Is there anything else I should be asking about that I didn’t?

• Who else should I talk to? Can you introduce me?

• Do you know of anyone else who might be interested in this project?

• Questions to help transition the interviewee away from this subject, to thoughts that may be more uplifting.