https://vimeo.com/732175641?fl=ip&fe=ec

My husband's suicide shows there's something very wrong with the U.S. insurance industry I'm a physician. We had good insurance. He died anyway.

I remember standing outside an exam room, phone vibrating in my breast pocket, when the coroner's call came through. I hadn't wanted to believe the neighbor's frantic text about a body bag removed from my husband's condo, but the medical examiner's office on my caller ID was unmistakable.

I answered, and sounds fell out of my mouth into the phone: "Hello, this is Dr. Hardison." I am an emergency physician living in the U.S., and we had one of the top commercial health insurance plans. When my husband, Randy, became suicidal for the first time in his life,

I thought I could find him the best care, our insurance would pay for it, and he would get better. Only one of those three things actually happened. The coroner confirmed it was suicide by asphyxiation. He asked if I could send a recent photo to help ID the body. "In a few minutes I can, I have a patient waiting."

I put the intrusive visual of Randy's bloated face into a compartment of my mind that was sealed off from the task at hand. Read More:

https://www.statnews.com/2026/07/20/psychiatric-insurance-coverage-suicide-denial-personal-essay/