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Six Elderly Suicides in a 1-Year Period in a Rural Midwestern Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2005

Sanford I. Finkel
Affiliation:
Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Marshall Rosman
Affiliation:
American Medical Association, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
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Abstract

In a 1-year period, 6 of 11 suicides in a rural Wisconsin county were committed by people over the age of 60. At the request of the local coroner, the American Medical Association sent a team of investigators to perform psychological autopsies. Family member survivors, friends, and attending physicians were interviewed. The majority of suicide victims had evidence of major depressive episodes, delusions that they had a terminal physical illness, and knowledge of family/friends who had committed suicide. Most had seen their physician within 48 hours before their death. Continuing education efforts focused on increasing a physician's abilities to recognize depression and suicidal ideation have ensued, based on this experience.

Type
North American Perspectives
Copyright
© 1995 Springer Publishing Company

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