Thread: Serious Business Alert - Let's talk about suicide

DeadRoseGarden said Masterkegan said To those of you who believe that suicide should be illegal. Just how the hell do you enforce it? Its not like you can put the person who killed themselves in jail. And you cant morally punish a family member, or whoever their estate goes to because of the choice of another. I don't believe that any of us should have a say in how someone dies. That is their choice. Not YOURS! Click to expand... I both agree and disagree with youwell kind of I agree that it is not ethical to punish the family of a person who has committed suicide and it is stupid to try to imprison someone who has failed as long as their actions have not jeopardized the life of another. The reason I feel that way however is not because I feel they have the right to choose it is because I feel it is a waste of federal government funds. Many people on the verge of suicide have a reason. The loss of hope, mental illness, or varied other reasons that truly only the person who died attempted suicide would know. Thus they are the only ones who could know if they were in a state of mind to make such a choice. I do however feel that in certain circumstances legal action should be taken against people who, by their attempts, have or could have endangered another. An example of this would be A young woman is home alone with her 1 year old son. The woman is depressed about her living situation or so it seemed thus she props a bottle for her sleeping child who is in a swing or other such baby gear. This woman then proceeds to down a bottle of pills. This womans actions have endangered her child. The womans attempt is unsuccessful and after a trip to the hospital once her boyfriend arrived to see the scene she has her stomach pumped and then is admitted into a mental ward for all of two days. She returns home with no obligation to continue outpatient therapy and with no legal obligation to be kept from being alone with her child. Six weeks later she has attempted suicide again but as the depressive state has worsened she is not clear enough to even do the little she did for her child the first time. Again she fails with yet another pill bottle but just barely. Her child however managed to get over the baby gate and fell down the steps. The child broke its leg during a crucial time for walking development. In the cases where situations like this have occurred I feel that it is the obligation of our law enforcement to make a case of it and have court order therapy sessions. The woman was suffering from post partum and had she been treated the first time, her child would have not been injured. Again she was not charged with anything but was court mandated at that point to seek help. In my opinion she should have been charged with neglect and reckless endangerment however the first time was not reported. The woman has made a full recovery after the court order for help and her now 2 year old child is well loved and taken care of despite the very avoidable break to his leg. I am not saying arrest people who need help but when others are involved someone should step in and protect those who are incapable of protecting themselves. Like that child and in this case also like the woman as she was suffering a mental illness and in no state to make the appropriate decisions for her own mental wellbeing. However that is a dangerous line to cross as it would give our governing systems more control. Pros and cons I guess. Click to expand... I understand exactly what you are saying. But, there are already checks and balances in place for scenarios like the one's you mentioned. However, the system that investigates those things is broken. Its called CPS, or DHS, or any one of a thousand other three letter agencies. But they are hindered by some stupid rules that force them depending on the state in which you live to investigate every single claim of abuse or neglect. In NC, say Im mad at you. You don't have kids, are never around kids. And I call CPS and tell them that you are abusing your child. There will be at least three case workers assigned to the case, and it will take about two months to close the case, even though you have no kids and are never around anyone's kids There is no way to find out who reported you without spending thousands of dollars in court, and no punishment for false claims of abuse. So what do we get? A government agency that is not able to do the job for which they were intended because of the ignorant laws that they put in place. Which takes resources away from the children that actually need help. Ala the two year old you mentioned in your scenario. Once again, we do not need more laws, we need to fix the systems and laws that are already in place. If the system worked then the two year old likely would not have been hurt.