Suicide Soars to WWII Levels as Nurses Warn of Crisis

For the first time since 2020, COVID-19 is no longer among the top ten leading causes of death in America. At first glance, this might sound like progress. But a closer look reveals a devastating truth: suicide has replaced COVID in the top 10.
Nearly 50,000 Americans lost their lives to suicide last year, pushing the suicide rate to its highest level since the 1940s — the era of World War II. Back then, families were torn apart as sons shipped off to war, economic uncertainty was crushing, and the nation lived under the constant shadow of fear and loss. Today, suicide is surging again, not because of global war, but because of the fallout from how we handled a pandemic.
As an ER nurse in Arizona, I see this crisis unfold daily. My patients are sicker, younger, and often in mental health crisis. I treat suicide attempts, psych emergencies, strokes, new cancer diagnoses, and heart attacks — all in staggering numbers. And this is happening before “season” even begins, the time of year when ERs are usually overwhelmed. Nurses themselves are also breaking down, calling off sick, and burning out under relentless pressure.
My colleague, Nicole, is a cardiac nurse in Florida and fellow host of NURSES Out Loud. While I see patients at their breaking point, she sees what happens after discharge. Her follow-up care reveals patterns just as alarming: heart patients returning home unstable, fragile, and often readmitted. She’s seeing younger patients with serious cardiac problems, families overwhelmed by complex care, and a system that feels stretched to the breaking point.
The numbers confirm what we both witness firsthand. COVID may have faded, but suicide has surged back into the top 10, while deaths from heart disease and cancer are also climbing. These are conditions that could be largely prevented or mitigated with proactive care, yet our healthcare system remains reactive, profit-driven, and blind to the bigger picture of human suffering.
We have to ask hard questions: What did lockdowns, fear campaigns, and labeling people “non-essential” do to the mental health of this country? How many cancers went undiagnosed because screenings were delayed? How much stress and despair did people absorb, only to have it show up now in the form of suicide, heart attacks, and advanced disease?
This isn’t just about statistics. It’s about mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, colleagues and friends — people who could no longer carry the weight. It’s also about nurses who saw this coming. Back in March 2020, I warned we were creating a health crisis of proportions we had never seen before. Today, the data proves it.
The numbers don’t lie. Suicide has surged to levels not seen since World War II. Heart disease and cancer are on the rise. Nurses on the frontlines are overwhelmed, and patients are paying the price. If we continue to ignore what’s happening, we risk not only losing lives but losing hope itself.
COVID may be gone from the top 10, but the real crisis is only beginning. And if nurses don’t sound the alarm — who will?
If you’re a nurse who wants to be prepared for the next time policy and paycheck collide, join me at RighteousRN.com.
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References:
CDC Stacks Report (Provisional Mortality Data, 2024):

https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/174621

STAT News Article (Sept 10, 2025):

https://www.statnews.com/2025/09/10/leading-cause-death-heart-disease-cancer-suicide