2 women jump from St. Pete bridge; only one survives

[DemocratSinceBirth]

ST. PETERSBURG -- Authorities say two women jumped from the towering Sunshine Skyway bridge in St. Petersburg during morning rush hour. One of them survived the plunge .

Authorities say a 44-year-old woman parked her Toyota at the center span, left a suicide note and jumped from the bridge at around 7:20 a.m. She hit the rocks below and didn't survive.

When detectives arrived to investigate, they found another abandoned car at the south end of the bridge with a suicide note inside. The Coast Guard soon found the 85-year-old jumper alive and pulled her from the water uninjured.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-928bridge,0,7225440.story

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mike03]

2. Sad

Some people think these sorts of stories are distractions from the more important ones, but I view them as canaries in the coal mine--very representative of the shattering soul of the American psyche. Suicides, Murder/Suicides, etc... They are worth paying attention to--these are trends, trends in hopelessness and despair. I feel it too.

[babylonsister]

3. "trends in hopelessness and despair" - I think that's what we should

be getting out of these actions, too.

[LakeSamish706]

6. Now Baby... Thats what I think as well... And I see it over and over again...

Not sure where we are headed, but stories like the sexually devastated little girl, the Myanmar situation, the general situation in the US and world... Where are we headed indeed... These stories, all of them are so said and sorry, and depressing... They just deflate the phyche....

[Suich]

10. "...deflate the psyche" (I think that's what you meant.)

I like that; very appropriate description.

:)

[blonndee]

4. OMG...

Not to discount the 44-year-old's death at all, but a suicide attempt at 85???? How very, very shocking and sad.

[Mike03]

5. Just Speculating...

There are many reasons I can think of that might prompt a person up in years to commit suicide, but two that come to mind are insolvency--simply running out of money--or health problems that she cannot afford to treat or whose treatment she simply does not want to endure, like cancer. Or it could be mental anguish, like untreated depression. But I share your bewilderment and sadness.

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

7. In my experience its the death of a long term spouse. nt

[Mike03]

8. Yes, that's another one.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[blonndee]

11. Those are some possibilities that crossed my mind as well

after the initial shock.

I think these events should be studied to see whether they form a pattern of any kind. Excepting mental illness (which itself needs to be better treated) or truly "unforseeable" events, there should be some data here. I particularly wonder about "health problems that she cannot afford to treat." I can imagine these are growing exponentially among many elderly Americans, as they clearly are among Americans generally.

[pitohui]

9. 50 percent of 85 yr olds have alzheimers

our society chooses to torture those people, for years, even decades, in order to reap the profits of keeping them alive as vegetables

we have a cruel and inhuman society that profits from denying reality and we wonder that some choose not to be tortured or to destroy their family financially so they'll be remembered in a way they would never choose to be remembered

people don't suddenly become "depressed" at age 85

they have an illness and we have a cruel society where doctors are punished if they help people move on to the next stage

yes, i have alzheimer's in the family, i've seen what it does first hand

[blonndee]

12. I wonder if that was a factor.

I also have Alzheimer's in the family. My grandpa died in 1997 from it and I too have seen what it does to individuals and their families. My grandmother finally made the brave and tortured choice to allow my grandpa to die, basically. Not only could he no longer feed himself, but he could no longer even SWALLOW food. She finally drew the line at force-feeding/IV nutrients. She said, "this is not living and he doesn't want this." Had it been UP to people making a profit, he could have "lived" much longer in such a horrible state.

[EST]

13. The suicide rate among the elderly is the highest of all age groups.

Although they do not attempt suicide as often, they are far more successful at it.
The completion rate puts suicide among the elderly at 20% of all suicides.

When facing end of life issues, as well as other serious problems and a bleak outlook even when problems are capable of solution, suicide looks to very many as the only tolerable outcome.

[Mike03]

14. Yes, just learned this recently

When I was growing up, we were told that teenage suicide was the most prevalent, but I recently was reading some textbooks on suicidology that said the elderly and single middle aged males were most likely to kill themselves. Also, a recent terminal illness diagnosis can trigger suicides, and, as another poster said, the loss of a spouse.

[pitohui]

15. i'm surprised you were taught this

it might be the era i grew up in, but i was taught that suicide was most common in elderly/terminally ill and it was not our place to make a judgment about that

teen suicide was 2nd most common and if a teen threatened suicide, we were supposed to tell someone (of course we didn't, because it would be betrayal, but we were supposed to) but for older folks we were supposed to respect their decision

might be my hillbilly background tho

[EST]

16. In many heavily religious areas, such is where I grew up,

elder suicide was often unrecognized or unacknowledged.

I suspect that one of the reasons elder suicide was not particularly visible--among many--was that such suicides are not staged as a protest against the indignities and cruelties of life, more as an acceptance of the inevitable and a demand for some choice in the matter.