Doctor Jumps to Death at Beth Israel

Yesterday morning, a doctor jumped to his death from the 17th floor of a Beth Israel Hospital building. The body of 44-year-old Douglas Meyer was found "on an air-conditioning unit between two buildings" by a security guard at 7 a.m.

Meyer, called a "'gifted' gastroenterologist and liver specialist," had completed his rounds. A hospital technician told the Post, "We started calling him at 7 a.m., and we couldn't reach him. And then one of the guards came in and told me, and I started crying. The entire floor was crying, technicians, nurses, managers, everyone."

A nurse told the Daily News, "He made the staff happy. He was never dull and always upbeat." Meyer, who lived on the Upper West Side and was an assistant professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; according to the News, would take his staff out and was often singing and humming while working with patients.

Beth Israel Hospital president Dr. David Shulkin said, "We are totally shocked and distraught. It's a big loss for us and his patients. He was a gifted physician who made many significant contributions in his field and, no doubt, would have accomplished even more had his life not ended so tragically."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on July 1, 2008 9:40 AM

Comments [rss]

Spirit of 76

holy shit! thank god this happened yesterday. I'm supposed to go to BI hospital to get some steroids today.

Why are you taking steroids? Something hurts? But you promised you would off yourself before seeking medical attention, you liar. And not surprisingly completely self-centered. You care more about your steroids than about a man who has likely contributed more to society in the last year than you will in your entire benighted life.

thellmer

On the a/c unit, ouch! If I were going to jump I'd make sure it wasn't going to be a complicated death onto parts of machinery. A flat pavement would seem a more logical destination.

Steven

The stress level of a doctor got the best of him.

babyhitler

holy shit! thank god this happened yesterday. I'm supposed to go to BI hospital to get some steroids today.

PBRK

Even the Post didn't say he jumped- just an apparent suicide.

Surprised no one has brought up the unmarried man singing Diana Ross tunes angle.

Anna_Merkin

It's not uncommon for those who play a "caregiver" role to do so in order to avoid dealing with their own depression. Add to that the pressures alluded to by other commentators above, and you've got the potential for suicide. Sad.

esquared

Think of the more lives he could have saved.

eyekantspel

Something doesn't smell right here.

I don't know. Many professional positions entail a lot of hidden pressures which can lead a person to feel like there's no way out. You can be trapped by the burdens of trying to keep pace with an unmanageable workload, and simply quitting doesn't seem like a viable option, feels like failure before friends and colleagues... Mix things like depression, or debts or addiction...

The article said the hospital "denied rumors that Meyer had been fired." Maybe there were performance issues at work which led him to think he was losing his job.

schadenfreudian mensch

This is likely caused by an airborne neurotoxin exuded by the surrounding plants.

MFer

This is obviously the work of the often maligned, never seen serial push-out-the-window killer. If you draw a straight line from the first victim's location (Water Street) to Beth Israel and continue ... the next victim will be in Astoria.

Guest

From the descriptions of him by his colleagues, he doesn't sound like someone who would just all of a sudden jump out of a window. Plus, he's a doctor. If he wanted to kill himself, he had access to drugs that could do it in a less painful way. Something doesn't smell right here.