doctor woe

the boston globe just began a new segment on area doctors' experiences on the job. this one, from a psychiatrist whose patient committed suicide two days after discharge, is especially poignant. it brings home the complexity of our minds and impotence of modern medicine:

"Can we really just add up the number of missing serotonin molecules in a person's brain, plug in the number of previous suicide attempts and recent losses, and neatly solve the equation? I doubt it."