New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. “The Epidemiology of Suicide” When Death Is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context, New York State, April 2011, pp. 11.

In this book by the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, chapter one talks about what it means to be suicidal and the thought process behind it. Suicide is the eighth leading causa of death in the U.S. Suicide is not the result of a little problem or a crisis someone is going through. Personal characteristics are associated with a higher risk of committing suicide. Society has tried its best to prevent suicide and has even seen attempts as a cry for help or the need for psychiatric treatment. Because of this the thought of patients being allowed to go through with assisted suicides seems wrong and seems to challenge the belief that suicide should be prevented. This book chapter goes into detail about suicide and how assisted suicides challenge society’s beliefs and norms, and this is information that will be very helpful for me in my final essay.

– “The common stimulus to suicide is intolerable psychological pain.  Suicide represents an escape or release from that pain” (New York State 11)

– “Studies that examine the psychological background of individuals who kill themselves show that 95 percent have a diagnosable mental disorder at the time of death.  Depression, accompanied by symptoms of hopelessness and helplessness, is the most prevalent condition among individuals who commit suicide” (New York State 11)