scrubbedexpat020

https://www.theage.com.au/national/t...01-p4zux6.html

I was surprised at the high dementia score.

GarryP

Does nobody die of old age any more?

Amazulu

So much to look forward to!

bcworld

I was surprised to see suicide so high. Adelaide (#4), Melbourne (#5).

spouse of scouse

No surprise to me. People live longer now, so diagnoses of dementia and cancer have increased in line with that.

Pollyana

Sadly not surprised by that one, with two friends and two acquaintances gone already this year.

moneypenny20

No, they like a real reason. My parents died at 79 and 89. Both apparently had cancer but there was no sign, symptom or treatment beforehand. Old age doesn't cut it.

spouse of scouse

Sorry to hear that Polly.

Pica

They do where I live-maybe I'm next!

GarryP

To me this whole "let's find a disease we can pin it on" misses the point. Past a certain age you just wear out and if it's not one thing that carries you off, it'll be another. Doctors have a annotation for it - "CTD" or "circling the drain". At that stage you shouldn't be trying to fix whatever disease or malady you have, just for the next one to come along a few months later.

I'm thinking back and I can't think of one friend or acquaintance I've had that has committed suicide. Accident, murder, and any number of diseases - but no suicide. I wonder what the stats on that looks like, are some people more likely to have friends that top themselves?

Dorothy

As the mother of a child who died of suicide I find your post's language offensive . People who have mental illness don't "commit" mental illness. They may die of it, but to use the word commit makes the act of suicide sound like a crime. People don't commit cancer or heart disease, do they? My son died of a completed suicide. He did not commit a crime. He also did not "top himself".

How about when answering someone who has lost friends you try being a bit more sensitive?

And no, suicide does not discriminate . People from all walks of life take their lives. Rich, poor, old, young (in one of my groups there are parents who've lost 12 year old children), all colours, religions and all cultures. I would say it is likely that you do know someone who has died of suicide. However there's still a ridiculous stigma so a lot of people will cover it up and say the death was something else.
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Dorothy

I'm sorry, Poll. It's shit for those left behind .

spouse of scouse

So you think there should be a cut off age, after which any health condition shouldn't be treated?

GarryP

You may not like the way it's described, but it IS the form of words that are generally used in English. The reason for that is before the Suicide Act of 1961, attempting to commit suicide WAS a crime - if you tried and failed you could be jailed, and the family of someone who did could be charged as complicit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Act_1961

GarryP

I think there should be a recognition that when someone reaches a certain state (not age) that interventions are more problematic than allowing someone to die (cf 'do not resuscitate'). That links to the idea of voluntary euthanasia and giving people control of their own life (and death).