<story><title>U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday</title><url>https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/07/15/us-transition-988-suicide-crisis-lifeline-begins-saturday.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>kromem</author><text>I wonder at how proving a legal path to ending life for anyone (with a lengthy waiting period and multiple psych sessions) would reduce the instances of impromptu suicide.&lt;p&gt;My suspicion is that the availability of a legitimized path to the same result, but with a far less traumatizing method for both the individual and their loved ones, might allow for transitioning people into getting help when that&amp;#x27;s not the outcome they really want and provide a respectful and humane exit for those that clinically and chronically find living unbearable.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not sure that the most ethical approach to life is forcing people to continue with it against their will, it is clearly not working, and by pushing the pursuit of death underground we&amp;#x27;re likely missing tens of thousands of people each year who would turn away from that downward spiral through treatment.&lt;p&gt;The people I knew that eventually committed suicide due to chronic depression spent many years thinking about it - a year waiting list for a state authorized humane option I&amp;#x27;m sure would have been fine with any of them. But the ones that committed suicide in response to temporary circumstances didn&amp;#x27;t have any outlet other than admitting the intent to commit a crime and facing the social and economic consequences of that being outed.&lt;p&gt;Even the number of stories I&amp;#x27;ve heard from survivors about the regret as soon as it was too late to take back is harrowing.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d have to wonder how many push the button for the nitrogen chamber (the likely method for state authorized suicide) only to regret it in the last moment where someone could successfully abort the procedure to save them. The low level of repeat attempts would be promising for the availability of &amp;quot;suicide with emergency break&amp;quot; alone.&lt;p&gt;The religious puritanism surrounding suicide has doomed us to adopt policies and attitudes towards it as a society that probably do more harm than good.</text></comment>
<story><title>U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday</title><url>https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/07/15/us-transition-988-suicide-crisis-lifeline-begins-saturday.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Waterluvian</author><text>Policing is in such a horrible state in America that an emergency number that excludes police involvement seems increasingly necessary.   I wonder if you can get paramedics through this route or if it just rings and you eventually get a counsellor.</text></comment>