Our hospital is 1 of 4 in our county. We see approx 2300 suicidal patients a year. I could count on a single hand the number of people attempting or expressing ideation that are doing so because of a 'terminal illness'-they simply arent that prevalent and where they DO exist, most of them manage to pull it off. Of the 2300 and those willing to receive help, the vast majority are referred to a therapist or treatment program and we never see them again. Of those unwilling to get help, we typically see them several times a year. Their 'suicide' attempts are seldom more than the occasional overdose of prescription meds followed by a long tearful "**** you, cruel world" text, email or letter.
Advocating for the 'right' for those struggling with emotional duress to kill themselves...well...lets see...this last weekend we would have lost a 12 year old girl who was angry at her very destructive and bitter divorced parents. We would have lost an incredibly cute intelligent 16 year old girl who is carrying the guilt because she happens to be more attracted to girls than boys and is afraid to tell her parents. We would have lost another 15 year old boy who had his wee heart broken by 15 year old little girl. We would have lost an 8 year old who cant explain why but just wants to die (he cant...I can...his father is an absentee POS and his mother is an alcoholic and he is scared to death, angry, frustrated and doesnt know what to do about any of it because...oh yeah...he is 8). We would have lost a 45 year old woman who is also an alcoholic...her 3 children have grown up and left her and now she has no one to dote on and is confronted by the memories of being sexually assaulted at age 10 by her stepbrother and maybe more painfully...by the anger, abandonment, and betrayal she feels because her parents downplayed the acts and instead insisted the stepbrother was the one that REALLY needed the help and none of this would have been a problem had she just kept her mouth shut. We wouldnt have lost 35 year old manic sex addict...she wasnt REALLY suicidal. Her we will see a few dozen times this year. We wouldnt have lost our favorite 19 year old malingerer who claims to be mentally disordered and wants to jump in front of a train but really he is just a stupid kid raised by a dysfunctional mother and has no motivation to make changes in his life because there is always someones couch he can crash on, garage he can sleep in, or when it gets really tight...just say the magic words...I am going to...and the state takes care of him. We could have lost a whole lot of good people that really just need help and people to show them that there actually ARE other options and opportunities out there. Sometimes when you are enveloped in 'this' its kinda hard to see 'that'.
I can cite about 2300 similar cases...a year...in one hospital...in one county.
I get the 'right to die' argument for terminal patients...I really do. But advocating for the 'right to die' simplifies the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of cases annually of people suffering from something as 'curable' as guilt, shame, or a broken heart.