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Suicide rates in the US are highest among elderly men, and most involve guns, CDC report says (www.cnn.com)

submitted 7 months ago by Salamendacious to c/news

203 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Senior men have higher rates of suicide than average, and firearms were involved in more than three-quarters of those deaths in 2021, according to a CDC report

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) is only legal in 11 US states.

At best, it requires a diagnosis for a terminal illness with 6 months left to live.

Individuals with an Alzheimer's or Dementia diagnosis are precluded from being able to make that choice, even if the diagnosis is recent and they still have most of their faculties.

We could be doing so much more to allow people to go out on their own terms and die a good death. It doesn’t have to be traumatic for family members, whoever discovers the body, or those who will inevitably clean up the aftermath.

[–] meco03211 24 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Ever see the show Shameless? Very dark comedy throughout, mostly light hearted content. One episode had me balling. One of the main characters is having memory issues. They were sort of working their bucket list that reunited them with a friend that also had memory problems. The friend mentioned their spouse dying. Main character asks how they remembered. They had it written down on a post-it note on the fridge.

If I had to relive my wife dying every day because I forgot, just put me down.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So the choice given to a dying old man faced with watching his "retirement" and healthcare costs drain whatever meager remains of the estate he might leave behind is faced with this choice:

A) Spend six figures on the various hoops needed to legally kill yourself. B) Spend 40 cents on a really good 9mm cartridge.

Medically assisted suicide doesn't work in places without public healthcare. You can NEVER be certain that the decision isn't driven by financial concerns, and like ALL HEALTHCARE IN THE US, its really only available to at least marginally wealthy people in the first place.

[–] Ambiorickx 11 points 7 months ago

For real. Once I retire in a decade or so, I’ll try to live off social security for as log as possible, but once I need to dip into my savings, I’m just tapping my kid’s inheritance. At that point, death is the only financially rational option.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I knew someone who made use of a death with dignity law and one of the doctors that he had to see to get the OK legally had to entourage him to take his own life. Something along the lines of "I have to tell you that, instead of a peaceful drug-assisted death, you have the option to forgo eating and drinking until you die."

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[–] Zron 13 points 7 months ago (3 children)

We put dogs down every day because they have incurable diseases or are suffering.

I had to put my dog down a few years ago because she was so old she could no longer get up or control her bladder or bowels, and I felt guilty for letting it get that far. I still remember the look in her eyes when they gave her the pain killers to knock her out, she looked so relieved.

I don’t understand how I get to make that decision for a dog, but a grown human, in most places, can’t make that call for themselves and go out in a peaceful and controlled manner. If I knew I was going to die painfully in a few months or a year, I’d definitely take an overdose or nitrogen asphyxiation over the disease. When dogs have a better way out than people, something is seriously wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 7 months ago (3 children)

“There’s too much identity tied up in one’s work, so that is lost [after retirement]. And then there’s the cultural script of what maleness means in in our culture, so men just won’t admit or won’t receive care for depression because of that sense that it’s somehow not what a man does.”

What use is a cog that can't cog anymore? Caring for elders is not built into our value system and not protected by our economic system.

Hell, it may be the only way to retire in a few more years.

[–] afraid_of_zombies 9 points 7 months ago

Maybe it isn't about caring for them maybe it's about teaching them to live with what they have. The skills for being retired are different than the skills of working. The skills of taking care of grandchildren are different than children.

We just sorta assume people know what to do when they get a certain age and maybe that isn't a valid assumption. I am just thinking of an uncle I had whose health just crashed right after he stopped working. He didn't add physical or mental work to make up for not working anymore. As opposed to some elderly I know who have loaded up the hobbies.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (4 children)

What use is a cog that can’t cog anymore? Caring for elders is not built into our value system and not protected by our economic system.

Also, what good is "care for depression" when the causes of depression aren't a "chemical imbalance" but having to live in a partriarchal capitalist society that only values men for what they can provide?

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[–] AllonzeeLV 34 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (13 children)

So?

We value capital here, not human life.

As an American, shouldn't our glorious free capitalist market celebrate these depleted capital batteries taking themselves out of the equation and lowering the tax burden on our beloved job creators requiring social supports once they can no longer make them money as fast food employees or store greeters?

What kind of Americans would put value on human life that can no longer generate private shareholder value? Smh, ya'll need to find supply side Jesus.

To be fair though, the common method is as American as ~~apple pie baseball~~ vast homeless tent cities. 🇺🇸🎶 Oh say can you seeee...today's mass shooting on teevee... 🎶🇺🇸

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[–] bobbi_d2 34 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I think others have mentioned this, but I'm disturbed that the article seems more concerned about guns than about the way our society and culture fails older men.

Sure it gets a mention but omg guns.

[–] grayman 10 points 7 months ago (7 children)

Get rid of all guns and gun suicides will plummet! It's just obvious! Can't you see that?! The problem is GUNS GUNS GUNS. After all, this is an anti gun article, right?! Wait... Why does the article mention suicide?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The idea of stopping suicide by removing the means is absolutely sick when you think about it.

Removing the means of suicide is the crudest, least helpful method of suicide prevention.

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[–] nucleative 25 points 7 months ago

This is a really sad state of affairs for older guys.

Imagine a guy who gets to 55+ and takes a look at his life and realize he's not where he wants to be and it feels like there's no chance to restart. Maybe he just didn't get into the housing market in time or start his 401k. Maybe some health issues or divorces blew out his savings.

These are the guys who were out of college right before the world was flipped upside down by technology, so I'm sure a lot of them never thought they had to catch up to keep their career running.

It would be really hard to not see it as a personal total failure, and to be frank their family and peers might see it that way too if they know. It probably feels like standing at the base of Everest when he should have the summit in sight.

His peers are either feeling depressed like him or they are jetting around on holidays most of the time.

Guys are taught most of their life to stuff the emotional things, so the future feels hopeless because he's in a bubble and doesn't understand how common this feeling is.

I hope we can find more ways to let guys like this, and all people, know that this feeling is temporary and there is a lot of hope waiting at the next turn.

Maybe he needs a bit of a boost from some antidepressants and someone to talk with who can help him let it all out. Or maybe he just needs a society that sees him as someone with something left to give, who still has jobs to be done, and that's enough.

[–] ashok36 13 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Everyone saying it's ridiculous to prevent people from killing themselves needs to keep in mine that these rules are generally in placw to prevent vulnerable people, including and especially the elderly, from being convinced to kill themselves so junior can inherit their house. People are bastards and absolutely will take advantage of more lax euthanasia laws to rid themselves of "troublesome" or "useless" people.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (37 children)

Good job in taking a serious issue and putting an unnecessary partisan spin on it, CNN. The issue of guns needs to be sidelined when talking about issues as serious as suicide.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/suicide-rate-by-country

[–] NocturnalMorning 21 points 7 months ago (7 children)

I don't really see the problem with elderly people who decide they want to check out. If we allowed medically assisted death, they could die with dignity.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (11 children)

If Republicans actually gave a shit about mental health maybe we wouldn't have so many gun suicides.

[–] SheeEttin 6 points 7 months ago

Or suicides generally.

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[–] profdc9 9 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Evolution has never stopped. Humans are simply creating new selection pressures. Humans are cruel to each other so that some will kill themselves. This will remain the case until cooperation becomes a dominant survival strategy.

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