Elderly at highest risk for suicide

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Not long after 72-year-old Anne Beale Golson had retired on disability from her job as a librarian, she put a stack of paid bills out for the mail, hung up a freshly pressed outfit and taped a note to the front of the house.

"Don't come in by yourself. Get somebody to come with you. Sorry, Love Beale."

Her niece arrived at the house they shared in Baton Rouge, La., to find police already there. Golson had killed herself with a gunshot to the head.

"Every single day it makes me feel like I wish I could have done something," Jane Golsan Ray said, recalling her aunt's death eight years ago. "I wish I could turn back the clock and prevent it. It doesn't get any better, it hurts every day."

The elderly are the highest risk population in the country for suicide. But few suicide-prevention programs target them — a result, advocates say, of scarce funding and lack of concern for older Americans.

More at link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_re_us/elderly_suicide;_ylt=Aq5._dL4feTp42toHD4ugias0NUE

[iconoclastic cat]

1. I totally understand Ms. Golson.

While I wouln't choose that method, I definitely plan on going out on my own terms. Of course, her choice sounds like there is more to the story.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. I wonder how many of these are health related?

I mean excluding mental health issues such as depression.

I can understand making such a decision rather than lingering on and forcing my family to watch me die.