...Depression is very serious. It is the main cause for suicide. People are killing themselves by the thousands, because of this dangerous disease. In this article, we will see how depression is increasing alarmingly worldwide. According to figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2010: Globally, more than 350 million people of all ages suffer from depression, or about 5% of the world population. Even worse, Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. The WHO also reports that suicide rates have increased 60 percent over the past 50 years, most strikingly in the developing world, and that by 2020 depression will be the second most prevalent medical...
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...Civilian Suicide Suicide Suicide has historically been and continues to be a significant issue in the United States, for civilians as well as active duty military service members and veterans. While statistics surrounding suicide appear to be just numbers on a page, I personally implore the reader of the following paper to never lose sight of the fact that those numbers represent real people. Each one of those people, be they civilian or military, represent a loss of a father or a mother, a brother or a sister, a son or a daughter, a best friend, a comrade, …a person whose life, and that life’s potential, is now forever lost. The following statistics on suicide rates in the United States do not differentiate if the individual was a civilian, an active duty service member, or a veteran. According to the Division of Vital Statistics, cause-of-death statistics in 1964, 20,588 individuals reported the cause of death was suicide, equating to an average of 56 suicides per day, making it the 12th leading cause of death in the United States in 1964. The most frequently used means of committing suicide in 1964 were firearms and explosives, “… self-inflicted gunshot wounds accounted for 48 percent of all suicides in 1964” (Massey, 1967). A half century later in 2014, statistical reports compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), indicate suicide as the 10th leading cause of death, accounting for 42,733 deaths (means used to commit suicide: 21,334 [firearms];...
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...Dara Hughes A. Kopriva English 1001 30 November 2011 Life Affecting Physician-Assisted Suicide Thousands of people in the United States alone die every year from terminal illnesses. Medical technology is responsible for keeping many people alive; however some people are alive against their will. This paper recognizes the various events and people that are affected by physician-assisted suicide. While some terminally ill patients feel there is no reason for them to live and cause pain for not only themselves but also others, there are still people out there who disagree because they find that physician-assisted suicide degrades life. Since ancient times, many people have come up with the concept of a merciful and acceptable death. From the Greek and Roman times till today, physician-assisted suicide has been long debated throughout history (Boyd). However, individual choice in dying did not become a United States social and legal issue until recently. Jack Kevorkian, Dr. Death, is well known in history for being the first American doctor to perform physician-assisted suicide (“Jack Kevorkian Biography”). "Kevorkian created, "the suicide machine", a device that distributed first a muscle relaxer, then a drug that would stop the heart from beating" (Kastenbaum). Dr. Jack Kevorkian is perhaps the biggest advocate of assisted suicide after "he aired a videotape, on 60 Minutes, of him injecting Thomas Youk. He was charged with first degree murder, in 1998, for killing Thomas...
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...Professor Neel July 20, 2014 Author Note This outline research paper’s final draft was prepared as part of a research project for English 1020, taught by Professor Neel. Abstract Euthanasia is commonly known as physician-assisted suicide. This is the act of a physician providing a terminally ill patient with lethal drugs and administers the drugs in a safe environment. Assisted suicide on the other hand is when the physician or pharmacist prescribes the lethal drugs for the terminally ill patient to take at a time of his or her own choosing. Assisted suicide is legal in 3 states in the United States, while euthanasia is illegal in every state. There are many arguments for and against this debate. The objections are mainly moral or ethical. There are many benefits to allowing assisted suicide in the United States, a couple of them are: less suffering for the patients, keeping the patients’ debts low, and keeping medical resources available for those with hope for more than 6 months to live. Oregon has provided the United States a good example of a state providing an opportunity for a terminally ill patient to control his or her own future. Hopefully with the first 3 states leading the way, the rest of the country will follow. Euthanasia: Quality Above Quantity in Life and Death “A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist...
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...Interventions Suicide is defined as the intentional taking of one's own life. Depression, drugs and alcohol play a major factor in the cause for suicide amongst a wide range of individuals. Suicide is alarming in the United States and is seemingly robbing the vitality of individuals from 18 to 65 years old. Sadly there are multiple reasons for the attempts and success of suicide but with the stressor in society it makes it hard for one to address the underlying issues. Youth Suicide When it comes to suicide among our youth the numbers are alarming. Each year in the United States it has been estimated that around two million of our youth has attempted suicide and at least 700,000 have received some sort of medical attention for these attempts. According to one study performed by The Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System in 2001 alone 2.6% of all students reported making such an attempt which lead to treatment by a doctor or nurse. However it has been estimated that in the United States alone around 2,000 of our youth ranging from 10-19 years of age actually commit suicide. Also in 2000 suicide was the third cause of death among our young people ranging from 15 to 24years of age, which followed unintentional injuries and homicides (CDC Wonder). With this they provided some statistics for further review they are as follows: * The suicide rate for children aged 10-14years old was 1.5/100,000 or 300 deaths among 19,895,072 children in this age group. * The suicide rate...
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...of firearms in the United States. According to, In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action, the Second Amendment states that “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (Alderman and Kennedy, pg.89). Today’s society has changed a lot since the time period when the Second Amendment was first ratified on December 15, 1791. Because of the Second Amendment, the use of guns is a lot more dangerous for us in society today. The number of suicides and homicides are increasing every year and the United States has a higher amount of firearm related murders than other countries. Even though American gains a lot of rights and benefits due to the Second Amendment, the negative effects are increasing every year. By improving the Second Amendment, and putting more restrictions on gun regulations, there would be a safer society for the people. Our world has evolved – the Second Amendment should evolve as well. The right to keep and bear arms makes people feel a lot safer because they have some source of protection. It is impossible for the government to protect every American citizen, so the people should have...
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...D1B4 Health Policy Developing New Policies: Policy Proposal Suicide Prevention Week Eight N. De Shields Instructor Dr. Yasmin Dada-Jones ABSTRACT This policy proposal attempts to abate the increasing number of suicides in the United States, a survey from 2001 to 2009 list fatal self-injuries span world-wide demographics, male and female, age, ethnic disparity and economic disposition. From 1999 to 2007 the number of suicides in the United States increased from 10.46 to 11.26 per 100,000 people, between ages 10 to 24 it is the 3rd leading cause of death, 2nd leading cause in 24 to 35 year olds and the 10th from all age groups. Globally one in every 40 seconds, 800,000 a year, suicide is absolutely preventable, these are not accidents and 90% sought treatment for mental health prior. Thoughts and ideation are higher among young adults’ ages 18 to 25 years where the greatest attempts are made; among 18 and older 8.3 million report having suicidal thoughts, 2.2 million made plans, 1 in every 25 succeed in committing suicide. Between the ages 15 to 24 years old 100 to 200 attempts are made, 500,000 in the United States seek help in emergency rooms; an estimated 6.5 billion in non-fata, self-inflicted medical cost. The initiative seeks to apply ecological approaches normally dedicated to specialized populations; the approach will intrinsically identify suicide victims through venues and or genres. Public suicide prevention efforts could encompass and engage participants via...
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...The United States Should put More Restrictions on Gun Ownership and Use The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The Second Amendment is the people’s right to bear arms. The United States should put more restrictions on gun ownership and use. Any american citizen can purchase a firearm from a store with a simple background check or firearms are sold at gun shows with no form of investigation on the customer's criminal record. The customer purchasing the gun is asked to fill out a form that takes a couple of minutes to complete. The form consists of questions about the customer's...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide “I watched my father die a couple years ago,” says Caleb Heppner, “He died a really terrible death. It was forty eight hours of excruciating pain” (Caleb Heppner Discusses). Today, Caleb is fifty-seven years old and is diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, which has already metastasized into his bones. He wishes to do whatever possible to avoid a painful death similar to that of his father. To Caleb, just knowing that there is a possibility to have control over his death is comforting. His death is the only event left to have control over. “I really see this as a medical option,” Heppner explains (Caleb Heppner Discusses). Physician assisted suicide should be legalized because everyone should have the right to choose how to live as well as how to die. In addition, assisted suicide provides an alternative to a painful death. By granting patients the legal right to physician-assisted suicide, terminally ill patients would be able to die peacefully. Physician assisted suicide refers to the procedure in which a physician prescribes a lethal dose of a medication to a terminally ill patient. Today, Oregon, Montana, and Washington are the only state in the United States in which physician assisted suicide is legal. California is currently considering whether or not it should legalize physician-assisted suicide as well. The law requires that both the patient and the medical personnel take the procedure slowly and seriously. In order to ensure...
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...Suicides in the Military Over the Past 10 Years The most common myths about suicide in the military have changed since the events of September 11, 2001. Previously, it was a white male, between the age of 18-25, with one or more of the following factors: relationship issues, money problems, and job satisfaction. Since the war in Afghanistan stared on Sep 13, 2001, the age has increased from 25 to 44, race does not necessarily matter anymore, and add the pressures of not knowing what is going to happen and always wondering when/if “your time is up”. Along with this, add in the stress of preparing for your deployment, the stress of leaving your family, the stress of ensuring everyone is properly taken care of if the inevitable happens, and the stress of possibly, or actually, losing subordinates or friends to enemy gunfire or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), just to name a few. More males over the age of 30, who have had at least one deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq and have seen some heavy fighting or have lost friends to enemy mortars/rockets on main operating bases, have committed or attempted to commit suicide in the past five years, then ever before. After all the stress of combat, coming home to a life of no danger of snipers or IEDs, mortar/rocket attacks to your base, causes even more stress then people can even imagine. “Flashbacks”, hyper-vigilance, suspicion, and the fear of loud noises are also a major concern and cause undue stress to the sevicemember...
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...Suicide is the taking of one’s life on purpose. It is sometimes a way for people to escape pain or suffering. There are many reasons that people consider and attempt suicide. Suicidal behaviour is any action that could cause a person to die, such as taking a drug overdose or crashing a car on purpose. Suicide and suicidal behaviours is considered to usually occur in people with one or more of these, Bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, drug or alcohol use, post-traumatic stress disorder , schizophrenia and even when someone has stressful life issues such as financial or relationship problems. Not everyone that is suicidal is suicidal because of a mental illnesses. People that are suicidal are often trying to get away...
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...On November 1, 2014, Brittany Maynard plans to take her life through a pill given to her by her physician. Maynard, a young, vibrant woman was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer a year after she got married. Brittany was only given six months to live with an illness that had no cure. Since only five states in the United States legalized physician- assisted suicide; Brittany family moved from California to Oregon. Brittany states, “The freedom is in the choice”, making certain that the world understands physician-assisted suicide should be at the discretion of the person. Now, Brittany is an advocate for legalizing physician-assisted suicide in all fifty states through Compassion & Choices. Physician-assisted suicide is when a doctor assists a patient who has the intention on ending their life because of a terminal illness. The patient request to receive a medication that will end their pain from their physician, the patient self-administers the medication. Therefore, the patient is in control of his or her own death date, ending their life painfully and peacefully. If society allows for...
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...coma or painful and incurable disease. One form of Euthanasia is the Physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide happens when a disabled or a terminally ill patients are assisted by a physician or other medical practitioner to terminate their own life, either by giving the patient instructions on the suicide method to use or giving a lethal drug prescription to commit suicide. Several European countries have accepted physician-assisted suicide practices and euthanasia. However, in the United States, physician-assisted suicide has only been legalized in five states. Currently, the United States has not legalized euthanasia, but a vigorous debate on whether all states should emphases physician-assisted suicide and legalize euthanasia is going on. However, what derails the legalization of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia is the controversial arguments...
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...Assisted Suicide Should assisted suicide become legal in the United States? This is a very serious question that many are split on. It is only legal in 5 states in the United States. Many people believe these laws allowing assisted suicide should be repealed and many think that more states should have laws to allow it. I personally believe that it should be legalized in more states because, there are people who would like the option, its puts families in bad situations, and they have a legal right to not suffer. The number one reason assisted suicide should be legalized is that there are many people I need of it. In a study done by the Institute for Rehabilitation Research and Development, it stated that 73 percent of terminally ill patients would like assisted suicide to be legalized. This is because people would rather live their last days without unboreable pain or symptoms of their disease and they don’t want their family and friends to watch them suffer. Since assisted suicide is not legal in many states this...
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...Suicide Amongst Youth November 21, 2013 INTRODUCTION Barry parr, a window cleaner in a small town, was working as usual in December 2001, not expecting anything interesting to happen. Suddenly, he heard a yell from afar and saw a 14 year old girl who was preparing to hang herself from a nearby tree. He showed signs of his incipient heroism as he quickly grabbed his ladder and ran across the road to try and talk her into retreating. He tried, and that was when she got real about committing suicide. As Barry started to climb up his ladder, the girl jumped off. Luckily, Barry was close enough and strong enough and he caught her in his arms, holding her high enough to save her life. Unfortunately, however, Barry was now in an unlucky situation. Barry was out on a cold winter day when people hardly walked by, and he had in his arms, a 14 year old girl who was trying really hard to squirm out of his grasp and kill herself. Barry held on to her for an entire hour before someone passed by and called the cops. The come eventually came and helped, but not before Barry had proven to the girl, how far the world was willing to go, to save her life and keep this one lonely girl around. Suicide is a tragic and preventable mental health problem. Suicide is irrational to those who are not suicidal, but to those who are, it is the only means of escape that there is. The reason most people consider suicide to be irrational is because suicide is a permanent solution to a problem which...
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