From Tony
Ipswich, Suffolk
Katie Alcock’s comments on suicides in Africa prompt me to point out, as a
member of the Samaritans organisation, that statistics for suicide are always
unreliable
(Letters, 3 May, p 54).
In Britain, coroners are reluctant to give a
verdict of suicide and often give verdicts stating “death by misadventure” or
that “the balance of mind was disturbed”. Concern for friends and relatives,
religious considerations, as well as the implications for insurance life
policies that do not pay if death is by suicide, also make coroners reluctant to
give a suicide verdict.
In many cases, it is impossible to determine the cause of death. Was that car
crash deliberate or caused by a moment’s inattention created by the undoubted
stressful situation the driver was experiencing? Was that death caused by drugs
an accidental or deliberate overdose?
There are also an unquantified number of what might be termed quasi-suicides.
These include those whose lifestyle leads to an early demise. Who has not heard
of someone drinking themselves to death, or the recluse found dead after years
of self-neglect? I don’t suppose a broken heart is a medical condition but there
are plenty of examples, such as the surviving partner of a long and happy
marriage who rapidly fades and then dies.
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Collecting statistical information on suicides is very difficult and any
figures can only be viewed with the above considerations firmly in mind.
We prefer to remain anonymous, so I sign myself:
