I read the suicide note of Dr. Leigh Sundem

Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:36 pm


I just recently learned of  suicide of Dr. Leigh Sundem

Dr. Leigh Sundem, a phenomenal physician died by suicide. Accomplished & super-smart with a 4.0 GPA, even aced the MCAT, yet was unmatched to residency 3 times . . . so she scrambled twice into temporary spots (but couldn’t get anything the third time). Even though she had 16 academic awards, 6 professional leadership positions, 5 research projects, 8 scientific publications, 9 scientific presentations, 10 years of teaching experience

Georgia Southern University senior Leigh Sundem is a chemistry major with a 4.0 GPA. She has won numerous awards in organic chemistry research at GSU, and last fall she scored higher than 99 percent of the nation’s students who took the Medical College Admissions Test.
     Sundem also is a recovering heroin addict.
     “At 18, I was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbery and assault,” she said. “Paroled at 21, I continued my alcohol and drug use until an understanding judge gave me the choice of going back to prison or entering long-term treatment.”
     After completing 19 months of treatment, Sundem sought out the assistance of the Center for Addiction Recovery at Georgia Southern. With the Center’s help, she was able to enroll at GSU, where she said she found a place to belong.

i started reading about her,

my references

https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschool/comments/gjyg81/serious_unmatched_physician_suicide_note_released/

https://authenticmedicine.com/2020/05/lets-talk-about-it-dr-leigh-sundem-dies-by-suicide/

https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/dr-leigh-sundem-dies-from-suicide-heres-her-last-request/

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/unmatched-em-applicant-commits-suicide.1407497/

one poster posted her suicide note,



starting in middle school she did illegal drugs including heroin, cocaine, marijuana alcohol

she also got charged with aggravated assault and battery which resulted in a 7 year felony conviction.

she managed to get cleaned, attend college, she graduated with a science GPA of 4.0, straight A's and scored the highest for that school MCAT at higher than 99%

she got accepted into medical school, incurring over $200k student loan debt, plus additional debt for personal expenses

due to her felony conviction and prior drug use she could not match in her residency, orthopedics and emergency medicine 3 times.


there's quite a bit of discussion on this, whether for example she could have gotten accepted to the much less competitive family medicine or psychiatry

several doctors who also involve in residency selection stated the computer system lets them filter out applicants with felony records so they wouldn't even see her name, and that there are many qualified candidates for these residency spots without a felony conviction.

in her suicide note, Dr. Sundem talks about being 35, single, with a huge amount of debt but with no job and income to pay off that debt.

she talks about white privilege, and about possibly going to law school and how she didn't want to die.

she talks about God, and how in the past, God seemingly helped her find a way to make things work out for her but not this time.


what she wanted is to match in residency, become a doctor and treat patients.

given her record of a felony conviction 15 years prior, though she was not offered residency. with student loans, they generally cannot be discharged through standard bankruptcy, so she felt trapped by debt.

she committed suicide in 2020 at age 35 which implies she was born 1985.

one thing that is clear is that if you are premed, and you have a felony conviction, you may end up like Dr. Sundem, she got into medical school and graduated but couldn't find a residency so her MD was worthless. she might as well majored in women studies or philosophy.

but she also borrowed lots of money to pay for medical school which she could not discharge via bankrupt and she was age 35. she made a lot of personal sacrifices, no job, no residency, no marriage or children

so she committed suicide.

her first life mistake of course was doing drugs resulting in felony convictions and a 7 year prison sentence.

she was able to turn it around and attend college, georgia state,

but then her second mistake was being premed and applying to med school.

given her 4,0 science gpa and 99% mcat score she obviously is smart. but her felony conviction meant that attending medical school will result in an MD degree but no ability to practice medicine.

she was offered a job in south carolina but when they learned she had a criminal record, that job offer was rescinded via email.

attending med school was 4 years plus over $200k in debt at least, of nondishargable student loans, and she spent more than 3+ years applying for residency, living in Las Vegas for 1 year prelims, with nothing to show for it.

so if you don't want to her the trap she was in, if you have a felony conviction and you are premed, even if you get into medical school, you may not get residency and become a license doctor,

just to be clear i don't know, with her felony conviction she should have went to law school and whether she could practice law with a felony conviction, or another health care field from nursing to dentistry,

several doctors said they are sad over this but this is about protecting the public. what if she relapse into drug use and a patient is injured or died? also there are many qualified candidates who don't have felony convictions.

another possibility is that she majored in organic chemistry with a 4.0 gpa. maybe she could have gotten a phD in organic chemistry, or chemical engineering, usually the arrangement is that she becomes a TA or RA and does not have to take on student loan debt.

again i don't know if being a professor of organic chemistry with a phD, and a felony conviction for drug use and felony assault, is a bar to employment or not.

even after doing heroin, cocaine, marijuana alcohol, her brain lets her achieve a 4.0 science gpa in organic chemistry and a 99% on the MCAT  

maybe she could have taught at a medical school as an instructor rather than as a practicing physician?


i am genuine surprised with her super high intelligence, did it occur to her her felony convictions would result in her not matching in residency for medical school and she would incur student loan debt?


again i don't know if she became a lawyer or a phD in chemistry if her past felony conviction would create problems for employment or not.

her suicide note she talks about feeling trapped with all this student loan debt and no job and no income to pay for it. being a white female though at 35 there's the get married option for her. if she married rich her spouse could pay off that student debt. her suicide note makes no mention of attempting to find love and perhaps her spouse can pay off those loans, it is 2020 there's tinder and other dating apps. i don't think her age is as much of a problem for lesbians as it is for straight men.

in star wars yoda warned luke that once you go to the dark side, for ever will it dominate your destiny.

in substance wars, i warn that once you go to the drug side, with a felony conviction on your record, for ever will it dominate your destiny. thats what happened to Dr. Leigh Sundem

i am amazed that with her highly intelligent brain, a brain that scored 99% on the MCAT and 4.0 science GPA, and even got her into medical school despite her felony conviction, she thought as a middle school age girl that doing drugs like heroin and cocaine is a good idea. and that applying to medical school with her felony conviction wouldn't be a problem to obtaining residency. and even applying to the most difficult residency, orthopedic surgeon.

with that kind of brain, i'm surprised she didn't think, will my felony conviction be a problem in obtaining a license to practice medicine after medical school and after i accumulate huge student debt, which the answer of course is, it is.

as a teen girl did she want to become a doctor and if so, did she think doing drugs and getting a felony conviction might cause problems for her down the road?

she also mentions she is a white female and had white female privilege and that if she were a black male with a felony conviction that would be the end. she was able to turn it around only to fail at matching in residency.

if she applied to a phD in organic chemistry, and becomes a phD, would her history of felony prevent her from becoming employed as an organic chemist? same with law school?

or for that matter, if she become a high school chemistry teacher, could she teach high school chemistry or again would her felony prevent that? again i don't know.

obviously if her record was pedophilia then the answer would be no. but drug use i don't know.

so what drove her to suicide is the decisions she made, resulting in her graduating from medical school but not matching for orthopedics or EM after 3 attempts, she was unemployed, her job offer in south carolina was rescinded, and she had debt and debt collectors calling her and she could not borrow more money to pay for expenses. yikes if she had a rich family they could pay for everything.

i suppose one reform is for medical schools to reject all applicants with a felony record.

Dr. Leigh Sundem would have been better off if she was REJECTED from medical school, as she would not borrow money in the form of student loans, to pay for it, plus 7 + years of her life, 4 for medical school and 3 for applying to residency and failing to match.


being rejected from all medical schools would have been the best thing that could have happened to Dr. Leigh Sundem. i don't know about law school or phD in chemistry, or even teaching high school chemistry, but somehow she needs to get this felony record thing figured out.

maybe a lawyer can get this record expunged so she didn't have to mention it on her application? i think she should have worked with legal counsel on employment with felony conviction.

being a blue eyed white female there's also the find a rich spouse approach to as an option.

one poster said that even working for fast food, even working for macdonald's, if you have a felony record you are disqualified. employers don't want to roll the dice with a criminal history.