Suicide Can Be Prevented
...ressful life events, like death of a loved one. Exposure to suicide or suicidal behavior by another person. Accessibility to firearms, because it is the most frequently used method. Serious illness or belief that one has an incurable decease. Changes in close relationships. A history of attempted suicide. Risk-taking or careless behavior. Giving away cherished or needed possessions. Previous suicides in the family. Acts like these do not necessarily imply suicidal intentions, but combined with other suicidal indications, these may well indicate that suicide is about to occur. Suicidal behavior can occur anywhere, anytime, and to anyone. It is essential that everyone have a basic understanding of suicide, its warning signs and how to respond when confronted with a situation. Some people are able to come to grips with their problems on their own, but most suicidal people want, and need, help from others to help solve their problems, or at least to help get through a suicidal crisis. The most useful sources of help for suicidal people are his family and friends. These people are usually available; they have knowledge of the person’s past history, and it does not cost anything to talk to them. Comforting and counseling from friends and relatives cannot be interpreted by the suicidal person as “paid friendship,” as the relationship with a professional therapist sometimes is. If someone is thinking about committing suicide, take their distress seriously; enter nonjudgmental, and help them get to a professional for evaluation and treatment. People consider suicide when they are unable to see alternative solutions to problems. If someone is in imminent danger of harming himself or herself, do not leave that person alone. It may be necessary to take emergency steps to get help, such as 911. When someone is in a suicidal crisis, it is important that access to firearms, and drugs are limited. Ray, otherwise known as “RT,” was a good friend of Kelly’s. They attended Madison High School together from ninth through twelfth grade. Ray and Kelly had many classes together, like Spanish and English. Each day was one good time after another. Ray was part of so many activities; he played high school football, basketball, and baseball. He was on the honor roll, part of the National Honor Society, and in the “popular” crowd. Ray seemed to have it all, and looked to be happy with his life. The four years of high school flew by, and Ray and Kelly were walking across the stage at graduation. The following fall, Ray and Kelly both started attending Kent State University. Their dorm rooms were not too far apart, but they did not see each other quit as much. They were in a new place and making new friends. Then the horrible news came one Monday morning, Ray had attempted to commit suicide. He had gone home for the weekend, and tried to hang himself in the basement of his home. Ray survived four days on life support, until his parents decided to take him off the machine. Kelly locked herself in her dorm room for three days, so upset and confused. How could he do this? Why did he do this? Where were the warning signs? He always seemed so happy. Statistics show that females attempt to kill themselves three times more than males, but males success rate is much higher. This is due to the methods that males choose. They seem to choose a more lethal weapon, where the probability of dying is greater, than females choose. Males are more likely to use a firearm or a hanging method, and so more males die. Where as females tend to use a cutting method or try to overdose on drugs; this is not as lethal, so more females survive attempted suicide (Lester 19). Other various ways of committing suicide are drowning, jumping in front of a moving object, like a car or a train, crashing a motor vehicle, or carbon monoxide poisoning. Less common way of committing suicide are setting oneself on fire, or electrocution (Marcus 48). Elderly people are more likely than people of any other age group to take their own lives. People sixty-five years or older are more likely to complete a suicide than those younger because when they decide to take their lives, they are very serious about it. They are not people making a cry for help or attempting to get back at someone. They want to die. They choose lethal methods like firearms, self-starvation, or ignoring a doctor’s advice about taking or not taking prescription medication, knowing it is likely to kill them. The elderly want to get it right the first time. Jeanne’s father was in his late sixties, told by his doctor that he had to quit smoking, loss some weight, and restrict his salt and cholesterol intake. The doctor warned him he was in grave danger. Jeanne’s father did the complete opposite of what the doctor instructed and even stopped taking his blood pressure medication. Life is dull without good food and cigarettes was Jeanne’s father’s complaint. Her father died eleven months later. The death certificate said it was a stroke, but should it have said “suicide”? Elderly people commit suicide for many of the same reasons younger people do. But for the elderly, the reasons more frequently include decreasing health, chronic pain, the fear of burdening their children, economic problems, death of a spouse, or just plain loneliness (Marcus 78). Looking at the devil’s advocate side of suicide, assisted suicide or euthanasia is a growing fact around the world. Should a patient who has lost all powers of reasoning and who lives like a vegetable, totally hopeless, and helpless, terminally ill, who wants to die, be forced to live? Although the official position of the medical profession is to maintain life indefinitely, regardless of the condition of the patient, in certain cases euthanasia or assisted suicide should be administered. Assisted suicide is a circumstance where one person helps another commit suicide. It is normally a situation in which a terminally ill person asks for and receives help from a loved one or doctor to end his or her life. This type of suicide is rational and a planned self-deliverance from a painful and hopeless disease which will shortly end in death. The help can come in a variety of different forms, from providing a lethal dose of medication, to administering the drugs, to just simply being present at the time of death for emotional support. The phrase “right to die” has been used to describe a broad range of end-of-life issues, including assisted suicide, and the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments, such as respirators. Also included are the refusal of medical treatment on religious grounds, and the refusal of medical treatment by terminally ill patients. In the mid 1970’s, Karen Ann Quinlan fell into an irreversible coma after accidentally overdosing o...