Places That Attract Suicides

[PeteS]

The figures around suicide rates can be skewed by a society's own culture around the subject, as I've probably already mentioned. In a country where a family might be stigmatised by the suicide of their relation there might be efforts to put the death down to something else such as a drunken accident. So it can be difficult to be sure what's going on.

(On the other hand, deaths from embarrassing causes like accidental asphyxiation during masturbation games might be put down as suicides to protect the feelings of the family.)

Here in the UK the standard of proof required for the registration of deaths as suicide was recently examined and adjusted, with the interesting conclusion that the change did not affect the published suicide rate.

Safe Office for National Statistics link -

Change in the standard of proof used by coroners and the impact on suicide death registrations data in England and Wales

Yes I'm sure I've read that a coroner has some leeway in recording the cause of death to protect the family. The issue over deaths and covid issues does make me wonder whether the public recording of the cause of death is really essential.

 

[escargot]

Yes I'm sure I've read that a coroner has some leeway in recording the cause of death to protect the family. The issue over deaths and covid issues does make me wonder whether the public recording of the cause of death is really essential.

An individual's cause of death is written on their death certificate by the local registrar. Coroners are only involved when a death appears unnatural or suspicious and an inquest is required by law to determine the reason for, not the cause of, the death.

The public only know about the inquest if it's reported in the media. Most inquests attract little or no media interest because the death wasn't of interest to anyone who didn't know the deceased.

We only know how many people are dying of covid with or without underlying medical conditions because the subject is currently of great public interest and it makes a great story.
The ONS constantly publishes figures about every aspect of British life you could imagine which are largely ignored by the public.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Yes I'm sure I've read that a coroner has some leeway in recording the cause of death to protect the family. The issue over deaths and covid issues does make me wonder whether the public recording of the cause of death is really essential.

This has got me wondering about "assisted suicides", which are legal in Belgium and some other countries.
Are those still recorded as suicides?
What about where abuse of the system is suspected as has occurred in Belgium?

https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/08/29/the-slippery-slope-of-assisted-dying-is-real

 

[escargot]

Yes I'm sure I've read that a coroner has some leeway in recording the cause of death to protect the family.

Coroners don't do this deceptively. They can record a 'misadventure', 'narrative' or 'open' conclusion where, for example, someone has died in ways that appear suicidal but without any supporting evidence like (say) previously threatening suicide or leaving a suicide note.

The cause or circumstances of death might even be deliberately covered up by emergency services.
We've all heard the stories of the adulterous lover whose heart attack is reported by the police to have occurred in his car rather than his partner's bed.

While that may be a UL - who knows? - I heard a much worse story about a death from serving ambulance staff.

I also knew someone who felt that for her children to know that their father had killed himself would be too traumatic. She managed to have the inquest held in a different area from where they lived in the hope of protecting them from gossip.

It's all very sad and messy.

 

[PeteS]

The ONS constantly publishes figures about every aspect of British life you could imagine which are largely ignored by the public.

Yes, it came as a surprise, although shouldn't have really to see that in a normal year, on average, 1500 people die every day in the UK.

 

[escargot]

Within the last couple of years new fences have been erected along railway tracks at British stations where access to tracks used to be open.

They are tall, sturdy metal structures. You'd need a roofer's ladder to scale one.

The idea is to prevent general trespassing/theft/vandalism issues which cause delays and danger and cost a fortune.

However, when I saw one being put up I was told it was actually a 'suicide barrier' and all stations are getting them.

The newish 'suicide barriers' include tall pointy gates that replaced the old feeble ones at my local station's side entrances.

T'other night I spotted a couple of youths trying to climb over one of the gates.
I opened a window and shouted 'Oi, ye're on CCTV, y'know!' and they quickly scarpered.

 

[kesavaross]

The newish 'suicide barriers' include tall pointy gates that replaced the old feeble ones at my local station's side entrances.

If a person intends to commit suicide, sadly, they will find a way. With the railways it has nothing to with compassion. It has more to do with suicide causing delays and costing the railway operating company money.

 

[escargot]

If a person intends to commit suicide, sadly, they will find a way. With the railways it has nothing to with compassion. It has more to do with suicide causing delays and costing the railway operating company money.

I made that exact point a couple of pages/years back.

The tall pointy gates I mentioned are a general security measure. They work really well when delivery staff don't wedge them open.

 

[PeteS]

I'm hoping that, in view of all the publicity surrounding the recent death at St Michaels, the river at that point will not become a suicide hotspot.
On a different aspect I seem to recall that in some locations there were fixed signs highlighting the contact number of the Samaritans etc , but I don't know if this still continues. There was a well publicised case in the North years ago where one sign had saved a handful of people.

 

[JahaRa]

Yes I'm sure I've read that a coroner has some leeway in recording the cause of death to protect the family. The issue over deaths and covid issues does make me wonder whether the public recording of the cause of death is really essential.

There are a lot of reasons the coronor would not put the actual death or leave it as unknown. In my family I know of twice that was done. The doctor that did the autopsy could find nothing difinitive for my neice's death, the police thought she was poisoned and Ft. Bliss was in a huge wrongful death law suit so they would not allow the death certificate to have "cause unknown". The police could never find any evidence, so the base commander had the county coroner pull something out of her ass to write on the death certificate. And that woman was stupid and picked a disease that would have been known by the time my neice was 10 and would have also kept her out of the army. So, my sister wasted a lot of time trying to rememdy it as well as find out what actually happened. We will never know exactly what happened.

Another incident, my uncle died of a heart attack while drinking in a boat on the lake. The police wrote it down as drowning and the coronor accepted that because he wanted to be sure my aunt got insurance. My uncle worked for the city and so did the coroner and there was something about dying in a lake without drowning that would have lessened the insurance amount. It was a small town and everyone looked after each other.

 

[PeteS]

There are a lot of reasons the coronor would not put the actual death or leave it as unknown. In my family I know of twice that was done. The doctor that did the autopsy could find nothing difinitive for my neice's death, the police thought she was poisoned and Ft. Bliss was in a huge wrongful death law suit so they would not allow the death certificate to have "cause unknown". The police could never find any evidence, so the base commander had the county coroner pull something out of her ass to write on the death certificate. And that woman was stupid and picked a disease that would have been known by the time my neice was 10 and would have also kept her out of the army. So, my sister wasted a lot of time trying to rememdy it as well as find out what actually happened. We will never know exactly what happened.

Another incident, my uncle died of a heart attack while drinking in a boat on the lake. The police wrote it down as drowning and the coronor accepted that because he wanted to be sure my aunt got insurance. My uncle worked for the city and so did the coroner and there was something about dying in a lake without drowning that would have lessened the insurance amount. It was a small town and everyone looked after each other.

Those incidents and the "official" investigation must have been a nightmare for all concerned. Dreadful.

 

[maximus otter]

...my uncle died of a heart attack while drinking in a boat on the lake. The police wrote it down as drowning and the coronor accepted that because he wanted to be sure my aunt got insurance. My uncle worked for the city and so did the coroner and there was something about dying in a lake without drowning that would have lessened the insurance amount. It was a small town and everyone looked after each other.

I wonder how the other customers of that insurance firm, whose premiums all went up to pay out on this fake claim, felt about the town "looking after each other"?

maximus otter

 

[SimonBurchell]

The police could never find any evidence, so the base commander had the county coroner pull something out of her ass to write on the death certificate. And that woman was stupid and picked a disease that would have been known by the time my neice was 10 and would have also kept her out of the army.

Awful situation. But perhaps the county coroner was not stupid, just uncomfortable with fabricating a cause of death for the death certificate, so put something obviously erroneous to flag up something suspicious for future investigators?