Eighteen percent of undergraduate students in the United States have suicidal thoughts and about one student in 10 makes plans to die by suicide. Every day, there are nearly three on-campus deaths of college students due to suicide. Recently, Philly.com looked at the problem of suicides on campus and asked an important question: “isn’t this an epidemic?”

A suicide attorney knows that college is a transitional time and a period of tremendous emotional stress and vulnerability. Young people are struggling to define themselves away from their families for the first time. They are faced with peer pressure as well as blossoming academic challenges, all of which can become very overwhelming.

Preventing Death by Suicide on College Campuses

College students, parents, friends and family members need to understand when someone is at risk of death by suicide. For the vast majority of people, thoughts of suicide are a “transient” emotional state, so it can be difficult to identify when college students may cross the line from thoughts into taking action.

College campuses try to provide help to prevent death by suicide. Roof access has been reduced and balconies have been blocked off on many campuses in response to student suicides. Special training and screening or evaluation tools are provided on some campuses, and colleges have made counseling available on campus. However, there may be much more that should be done to prevent death by suicide. Suggestions for a campaign to reduce deaths include:

• More education. Suicide should be talked about more frequently, and students should be taught that the brain can be modified to control urges. The difference between automatic conditioned living and purposeful choosing should be explored, and students should be educated more on the boundaries marking the beginning of illness. There should also be more open discussion about available treatments for depression or thoughts of suicide.
• More screening. College students are a highly-vulnerable group at risk for suicide. A broad screening program may be more effective on a college campus than it would be among the general population. The screening program would not only help to identify students who are at risk but would also help to maintain awareness both about the risk of death by suicide as well as about the significance of suicidal ideation.
• Better suicide prevention networks. Suicide prevention efforts should focus on the communication tools that college students use most frequently. For example, students may be more likely to visit a supportive community center web site that acts as a suicide prevention network than they would be to call a suicide hotline. Students should have access to suicide counselors on the social networks that they use most, as they may not visit student health services

By providing better access to suicide prevention services using the communication tools that students need, hopefully the problem of suicide on college campuses could be reduced. Mental health counselors available to students on college campuses also need to be aware of the unique risks that vulnerable student populations face and should be especially vigilant to watch for signs of suicidal thoughts.

A Dallas, TX suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can help. Call (214) 618-8222 or visit http://www.skipsimpson.com to schedule a free case consultation.

When a person is incarcerated, he or she is still entitled to receive necessary medical care for health conditions. This includes not just physical symptoms but also mental problems that may be causing someone to have thoughts of suicide or to consider dying by suicide. Unfortunately, a recent article on AOL.com suggested that safeguards designed to prevent inmates from harming themselves are not being followed.

Anyone considering dying by suicide deserves to get help and have a chance to recover, even if that person is in jail or prison. This “prisoner,” by the way, may be a teen locked up in jail for a DWI; a teen who is ashamed for the arrest and thinking he or she has ruined their life.  Of course they haven’t but they think so.

Those responsible for providing help can be held accountable if they negligently fail. An experienced suicide attorney can represent victims or family members who suffer as a result of a failure of healthcare providers or other professionals.

Inmates at Risk of Death by Suicide

According to AOL.com, an inmate in New York city who was experiencing mental illness died by suicide. He had attempted to die by suicide three times within a three day period of time before his ultimate death. As a result, he was put on 24-hour watch in an attempt to protect him. This was ignored. Also ignored was a screening form in which he had indicated that he was “thinking about killing himself.”

This is not an isolated incident. Another inmate also died by suicide in a solitary confinement cell after telling the guards that he was suicidal. When he said this to one of the guards shortly before his death, the reply was to “go ahead and do it,” if you have the courage to do so. A third story involved another inmate dying by suicide using a metal bed that he stood on its end to create a scaffold. The beds were supposed to be welded to the floor to prevent this, since another inmate had previously done the same thing.

AOL reported that records show at least 11 suicides in New York City jails in the past five years. In at least nine of the incidents, there was a failure to follow safeguards designed to prevent inmates from death by suicide.

Problems include:

• Communications breakdowns between guards and mental health staff, which can sometimes result in inmates not getting necessary medications or precautions not being taken to protect those considering death by suicide.
• Improper distribution of medication.
• Inadequate mental health treatment.

There is no excuse for these types of problems, but they happen all the time. As a result, after cancer and heart disease, suicide is the third leading cause of death in jails nationwide. Throughout the country, there are 41 deaths by suicide among inmates for every 100,000 people incarcerated.

It is often possible to prevent death by suicide and a failure to take reasonable precautions to protect inmates can be considered negligent. When someone’s negligence directly contributes to a death by suicide, it is important to hold that individual or company accountable in order to change behavior going forward in the future and provide broader protections to those who need them.

A suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can help. Call (214) 618-8222 to schedule a free case consultation.

There are many risk factors for suicide and both individuals and mental health professionals need to be aware of some of the likely reasons why people will consider death by suicide. One factor that can play a role in increasing the risk of suicide is domestic violence.

Mental health professionals should know that a person who has experienced domestic violence or intimate partner violence is at greater risk of death by suicide. If a counselor or care professional fails to recognize risk factors of suicide, a suicide attorney should be consulted for assistance in pursuing a claim for compensation.

The Link Between Domestic Violence and Suicide

As Overcoming the Darkness reports, victims of domestic violence have a higher risk of suicide not only while the violence is occurring but over the course of the rest of their lives. For example, a woman who experiences violence at the hands of an intimate partner is 12 times as likely to die by suicide as compared with someone who is not a victim of domestic violence. The increased risk of suicide is so strong that more domestic violence victims actually die by suicide than are killed by the person who is committing the abuse.

People who are themselves victimized by domestic violence are not the only ones who face an increased risk of suicide. Children who are exposed to domestic violence in the home are more likely to have suicidal tendencies and to die from suicide.

UMN reports on additional research showing a link between suicide and domestic violence. One study showed that 29 percent of all women in the United States who attempted suicide had been battered by an intimate partner. Reports prompted UNICEF to state that “a close correlation between domestic violence and suicide has been established based on studies in the United States” as well as in at least seven other countries.

Victims of domestic violence may feel trapped in a situation they cannot get out of and may feel as if they have no choice but to escape by taking their own life. Unfortunately, both suicide and domestic violence are also stigmatized in society. People avoid talking about domestic violence and they avoid talking about the fact that they are having thoughts of suicide because they are ashamed or because they fear social stigma.

Open communication is the key to preventing deaths by suicide among domestic violence victims. A change in public perception could help to make it easier for people who are being victimized and considering suicide to get the help that they need. Healthcare professionals need to be better trained and better informed on the link between domestic violence and suicide, and screening should be encouraged so that intervention is more likely to occur.

A large-scale study conducted by the United States Air Force shows that integrating suicide prevention policies and de-stigmatizing the process of seeking help can make a major difference in reducing the suicide rate. Not only that, but homicide and family-violence rates also decreased along with the number of people who died by suicide.

A suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can help. Call (214) 618-8222 or visit http://www.skipsimpson.com to schedule a free case consultation.

The Great Recession that started in 2007 caused many people to lose their homes and their livelihood. Some individuals and families, however, experienced a loss that was far beyond any financial devastation. According to a recent article on CBS News, the Great Recession may have been the cause of more than 10,000 deaths by suicide.

Economic stress can significantly increase the chances of someone having suicidal thoughts, and a job loss or a foreclosure can lead to someone attempting suicide. Families and community members need to be especially supportive of those going through financial hardship and mental health professionals must be vigilant in watching for signs that a patient they are treating may be considering death by suicide after a financial setback.

If medical professionals fail to recognize and act on signs of suicide, surviving family members may be able to take legal action to obtain compensation for losses. A suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can represent those who lose a loved one as a result of death by suicide.

Economic Distress and Death by Suicide

Researchers from the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene & Topical Medicine examined information on deaths by suicide from 24 different countries in the European Union as well as in Canada and the United States.

Researchers found a substantial increase in rates of suicide between 2008 and 2010. The increase in deaths by suicide was four times greater among men than among women.

In the European Union, suicides increased 6.5 percent from the time the economic crisis started in 2007 until the end of 2009. In Canada, there was a 4.5 percent increase in deaths by suicide between 2007 and 2010. In the United States, there was a 4.8 percent increase in deaths by suicide. These numbers were “conservative” estimates, and it is likely that there were more deaths that were not counted.

During this same time period, there was also a significant increase in the rate of prescription antidepressant use. For example, in the United Kingdom, there was an 11 percent increase in antidepressant use between 2003 and 2007 but by 2010, there was a 19 percent increase in the number of people taking such medications.

The fact that the differences in suicide rates occurred in all of the countries affected by the great recession gave researchers considerable confidence in concluding that it was economic factors that specifically caused the increase in the number of people who died by suicide.

Unfortunately, key risk factors for suicides during a recession include home repossession, a significant increase in debt, and the loss of a job.

Interventions such as return-to-work programs and employment assistance may help to reduce the risk of suicide. In fact for each $100 per person spent on programs to help the unemployed, there is a .4 percent increase in the risk of death by suicide.

Ultimately, however, mental health professionals may have the biggest impact on reducing the chances of a death by suicide in each particular case since behavioral therapy and the use of antidepressant medications can help a person to weather even serious economic hardship.

A suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can help. Call (214) 618-8222 or visit http://www.skipsimpson.com to schedule a free case consultation.

Note from the Law Offices of Skip Simpson: This extremely important blog comes from Dr. Paul Quinnett, president and CEO of The QPR Institute, Inc. Dr. Quinnett is a leading authority on suicide prevention in the United States.

When I started writing this blog, the country was still shaking from the shootings at UC Santa Barbara. Before I finished the first draft, the shooting at Seattle Pacific University had just ended. I am in rewrite today, one day after the tragedy in Las Vegas, and while writing this very sentence I learned of the shooting in Troutdale, Oregon.

Full stop!

America, we need to call a timeout, huddle up, and get an action plan going to stop the carnage.

To prevent the next mass murder-suicide we must, simply must, get upstream from these unfolding events and identify potential suicidal shooters before they purchase weapons, load up, and open fire. Yes, suicidal shooters, not homicidal ones.

I’ve covered this a bit in earlier posts, but bear with me. If suicide contagion is real (and it is), then so is murder-suicide contagion. See one, do one. Humans are highly imitative primates – and not just of good manners, but murder, means and mayhem.

For schools and colleges, one intervention recommended by some is to arm school employees, from teachers to school safety officers, and even students themselves. Armed resistance may reduce the number of persons killed and injured, but in my view it is too little too late. When bullets begin to fly, you’re into intervention, not prevention.

Stopping smoking is prevention; heart surgery is intervention. An armed employee or student can respond to an attack – if they are not killed first – but the homicidal-suicidal person who knows an armed target awaits him at his chosen location is likely to be attracted, not dissuaded, from action. His solution, after all, is to die in a hail of gunfire.

Mass murder-suicides (from Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook to UCSB to Las Vegas) are perpetrated by people who are suicidal first, homicidal second. Once the decision to die has been made – either by their own hand or by another’s – the second decision to seek “justice” for perceived wrongs provides only a final motivation.

Ways to Prevent Mass Murder-Suicides

These are not random acts of violence. Escapes are not planned. The shooter’s intention is to die, usually at the scene. Mass murder-suicides are premeditated, planned, and therefore preventable – if three things are done:

1. Train as many people as possible to recognize and respond to suicide warning signs. This is our collective responsibility to assure ourselves of a safe and sane society. On expert retrospective analysis of these events, suicide warning signs are inevitably present before the shooting begins. Suicide warning signs can be taught and acted upon to cause a formal threat assessment to be conducted, perhaps followed by voluntary or involuntary treatment or other risk mitigation interventions, e.g., denying access to firearms.

2. Train mental health professionals. Currently, few mental health professionals are well trained in how to conduct a comprehensive suicide/homicide risk assessment. Moreover, too many do not routinely intervene with families to see to the removal or security of firearms available to potential suicidal or homicidal loved ones. Thus, even though a potential shooter is in treatment, there is no guarantee a competent risk assessment has been conducted or that all evidence-based risk mitigation strategies have been employed, including restricting access to firearms.

The training, by the way, is called Counseling Against Access to Lethal Means (CALM) and it is available free at: http://training.sprc.org/. It was developed by a dear colleague and friend and I cannot recommend it too highly. If you own a gun, you have a new duty: take CALM training.

3. Train law enforcement officers. Police officers are likewise not well trained to recognize and respond thoroughly to suicide warning signs. If they do detain a person for evaluation, they must rely on emergency room or mental health professionals to determine the level of risk and necessary action steps. But research shows that ED staffers know even less about suicide/homicide risk assessment than do mental health professionals. In the UCSB case, after a 10-minute welfare check, the sheriffs left a number and encouraged Elliot Rodger to call for help.

He didn’t.

Wake up, people…. suicidal males rarely ask for help, and homicidal-suicidal males never do. Or if they do, it is when taking the first steps down the trail to a tragedy for all.

Rarely Do Suicidal Males Ask for Help

This step might be taken in a therapist’s office, or in a conversation with a school counselor, or with someone who might, just might, be in a position to recognize that small but ominous cloud rising from a sea of mental anguish and torment “no bigger than a man’s hand.”

I am, admittedly, an impatient man. Waiting for troubled, angry, suicidal young men to ask for help before they start killing us is unacceptable. Enough with the waiting. If we have satellite spy cameras so powerful we can read a license plate from space, surely we are smart enough to figure out how to identify these people before they gain access to guns and start shooting.

(To my fellow Americans in the NSA reading this blog post: How about lending us all a hand here?  As tax payers, you work for us not the other way around, right?)

Back to the cops who, in this case, and in my view, might have tried the slick Lt. Colombo maneuver to get into the shooter’s house without a warrant, as in, “Oh, by the way… I wonder if it would be OK if we looked around just to make sure, etc. etc.” Stiff resistance to this polite request would raise the index of suspicion and perhaps trigger a deeper investigation.

Mental Health/Law Enforcement Teams

If police officers cannot be trained to detect suicide risk, and then conduct suicide/homicide risk assessments in the field, then pair them with trained mental health professionals and create competent, quick-acting crisis response teams who understand that early identification and intervention may go unrewarded by the general public, but is still heroic. Mental health/law enforcement teams must be fully funded to respond to these threats and yet, currently, many communities are without them.

In the UCSB tragedy it is clear that the two groups of professionals who had contact with Mr. Rodger before he started killing people did not, or could not, communicate with each other about the risk that alarmed his parents and a roommate. The parents acted, but the roommate did not, later saying, “Why did I not say anything?”

The parents did say something, but we can only guess that the professionals involved may not have had the kind of training needed to a) recognize suicide/homicide warning signs, b) conduct a comprehensive suicide/threat assessment, and c) employ their collective civil authority to cause a change in the trajectory of the unfolding event, e.g., a voluntary or involuntary hospital hold to determine how much risk to self and others was present.

It’s a cheap shot for me to opine about this UCSB event while unencumbered by the facts, or the reality of actually having been there, but I have reviewed all of the other high-profile mass-murder suicides in recent history and the pattern is the same again and again and again. And as an old spy myself (retired), I have a pretty good idea of what’s missing. It’s called Intel.

From the 1955 Hoover Commission on American spy work, “Intelligence deals with all the things which should be known in advance of initiating a course of action.” Intelligence is used to prevent violence, and we cannot expect our mental health and law enforcement officers to initiate a course of action to avert violence without better intelligence. The dots are there; they are just not being connected.

But what about confidentiality?

What confidentiality? When lives are at stake, confidentiality is moot.

Too often confidentiality is the screen behind which mental health professionals stand to protect themselves from extra work, like talking to parents or family members when conducting a youth suicide risk assessment. Yes, they don’t get paid for intelligence gathering beyond that provided by their patients, but they should, and this can be fixed with a stroke of the regulatory pen.

Any clinician who relies solely on the statements made by a suicidal and possibly homicidal patient to assess and manage potential risk for violence is either untrained or naive. (Sometime I will share my Top 10 Reasons to Lie to Your Therapist if You Are Suicidal).

When I directed a large emergency service for 25 years and had the authority to invoke involuntary detention to determine if treatment was indicated for anyone suicidal or homicidal or both, people sometimes threatened to sue us over their loss of privacy. None did. But if they had, I was fully prepared to make the case for a temporary suspension of a person’s civil rights in the name of safety for all.

Some say these mass murder-suicides are unpredictable and therefore cannot be prevented. I disagree.  The dots are all there. Through training, education, better intelligence gathering, better intelligence sharing, and better communication among observers, we’ve shown we can greatly reduce American battlefield causalities. Now all we have to do is apply what we already know how do in our own back yards.

A suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can help. Call (214) 618-8222 to schedule a free case consultation.

Many different risk factors can increase the likelihood of a young person having suicidal thoughts or attempting to die by suicide. While most parents and counselors are familiar with the potential impact that bullying and depression can have on the likelihood of a teen attempting death by suicide, there is also another danger that may not be so apparent. Emerging research indicates that a teenager who has suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) may have a greater risk of taking his or her own life.

Mental health professionals need to be aware of factors that increase a teen’s likelihood of death by suicide and must act to protect their patients. A suicide attorney should be consulted in situations where a mental health counselor has potentially failed to live up to his obligations with teens.

The Link Between TBI and Suicidal Thoughts or Attempts

According to Psych Central, a traumatic brain injury can result in “significantly greater odds” that a teenager will make an attempt. This is true even if the TBI was a simple concussion. Teens with a TBI had three times the chances of attempting suicide, and twice the chances of being bullied either at school or online.

Researchers identified this link by reviewing data collected as part of the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. The survey initially began as a method of studying drug use but has been broadened to ask questions about adolescent well-being and health. It is one of the longest ongoing school studies worldwide and almost 9,000 students participate. The students range from grade seven to grade 12.

In 2011, questions about traumatic brain injury were added to the study for the first time. Prior research shows that as many as 20 percent of adolescents in Ontario had experienced a TBI over the course of their lives.

The comprehensive nature of the new study allowed for connections to be drawn between a history of TBI and an attempt to die by suicide.  Mental health experts know that TBIs can exacerbate both mental health and behavioral problems, so it is important to understand this link.

Research revealed that a teenager who had a prior TBI was more likely to become a bully or to be bullied; and was also more likely to have been prescribed medication for anxiety, for depression or both. Teens with a prior TBI also had greater odds of breaking and entering; selling drugs; running away from home; damaging property; getting into fights at school; carrying weapons and setting fires.

Because of the far-reaching consequences of a TBI, prevention should always be the top goal, especially as many traumatic brain injuries are suffered during recreational or athletic activities and could be prevented by the use of helmets.

Unfortunately, once a brain injury has occurred, the only option is to watch carefully for signs of problems. It is essential for “primary physicians, schools, parents, and coaches” to be vigilant in monitoring adolescents who have suffered a brain injury.  Counselors should also provide the assistance these teens need to cope and avoid behavioral problems or thoughts of suicide.

A suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can help. Call (214) 618-8222 to schedule a free case consultation.

If your loved one is about to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital because he or she is suicidal, this is a blog you should print out and take with you to the hospital. It could save your loved one’s life.

When a loved one is in the hospital, we assume that the care is high quality and, most of all, safe. We feel relieved that our loved one is finally being properly protected while he or she is enduring a suicidal crisis.  We expect constant and safe round-the-clock trained nurses or psychiatric techs properly watching our loved ones to make sure all is well. We expect a properly trained psychiatrist giving hospital staff proper orders to protect our loved ones. We expect hospital leadership working hard to make the hospital safe.

Sadly, inpatient suicide—when a person takes his own life in a hospital or kills herself in a healthcare facility—is all too common. In fact, inpatient suicides occur six times a day every day of the year.

This is particularly egregious because the reason the patient is hospitalized is to keep the patient safe from suicide.

Sadly, unless hospitals abide by proper safety rules, the psychiatric hospital can be dangerous for suicidal patients … not as dangerous as not being hospitalized, but the hospital danger is a needless danger.  The mental health literature has clearly set forth safety rules for psychiatric hospitals for over 20 years, but many hospitals are turning a blind eye to the lessons of the literature primarily because of greed. There are obvious exceptions like Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, but the exceptions are rare.  The hospitals do not want to spend money on properly training staff or making sure the hospital is environmentally safe for a suicidal patient.  In addition, hospitals are understaffed so that the nurses and techs cannot keep up with properly protecting their patients.

What Families Can Do to Foster Suicide Prevention Awareness

Texas suicide lawyer Skip Simpson knows how vulnerable certain patients can be during their stay in a healthcare facility due to improper suicide watch and broken safety rules. He believes it is important for families to be aware of the statistics in order to foster as much suicide prevention awareness as possible.

Suicidality is the most common reason for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. When a patient is admitted to the hospital because of thoughts of suicide, the clinician and hospital is on notice that the patient is at an increased risk for suicidal behavior. To be extra clear, the hospital knows it is likely a suicidal patient will attempt suicide in the hospital if the patient is not properly protected.

When hospital staff members are aware of a patient’s suicidal risks, the hospital assumes the duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the patient from inflicting harm. Obviously if the hospital staff does not know the proper safety rules or does not want to spend the money to learn them, the “reasonable steps” concept is ditched and the chief executive and finance officer just hopes for the best … just rolls the dice with patient safety.

An inpatient suicide may occur under varying types of circumstances. These circumstances all relate to violations of safety rules from inadequate suicide assessment, negligent suicide watch, an unsafe environment, inadequate policies and procedures regarding dangerous contraband like shoe laces or belts (to mention only a few).

What can the loved one do when their loved one is being admitted to a hospital for protection from suicide?

1) Make sure hospital staff knows exactly what your loved one has said about suicide or what steps your loved one has taken towards ending his or her life. You can ask your loved one before getting to hospital if he or she has thought about suicide. If yes, ask how he thought about doing it. Ask what steps he or she has taken, like buying a gun, getting a rope, hoarding pills, thinking of jumping from a bridge, or jumping in front of a car.

Make sure the hospital staff knows the answers to these questions.  Why? Because you cannot be sure hospital staff will ask them!

Make sure you see staff document what you say.

2) Ask who will be assessing your loved one for suicide and what their qualifications are to do so.  Don’t be embarrassed to be proactive. Be nice but be firm. You want your loved one protected…the more you are showing your concern the more concern your loved one will receive hopefully.

3) Tell the staff you want to be a part of the treatment team.  If there is a decision about your loved one’s care you want to be a part of that decision.

4) Encourage your loved one to sign a waiver of confidentiality so you can be kept informed by the staff of what your loved one is saying about suicide.  Patients often demand to be released and claim they are not suicidal so they can get out of the hospital…frequently so they can attempt suicide. Pressing for discharge can be a risk factor for suicide.

5) Tell staff you want to know what was learned in the suicide risk assessment. You may be able to shed light on what your loved one is telling the psychiatrist or nurse.  There are many reasons why your loved one may not “tell all” and your knowledge can make a big difference.

6) Determine how often the psychiatrist will visit with your loved one in the hospital.  Tell the psychiatrist you would like a brief call updating you on your loved one’s condition and the plans for your loved one.

7) Determine what level of observation your loved one will be on. In other words, will he or she be watched constantly? If not, how often? If you are told your loved one will be watched every 15 minutes, remind the staff that if your loved one attempts suicide by hanging, it only takes 2-3 minutes to have irreversible brain damage and 6-7 minutes to be dead.  Then ask, “How 15 minutes is protective?” Again, be firm and be an advocate for your loved one. The hospital patient’s advocate is employed by the hospital. You are the only true advocate for your loved one.

8) Ask if there is a bathroom door inside the patient’s room. If so this is where patients hang themselves using a sheet or clothing to hang over the door wrapped as a noose.

9) Ask how often your loved one will be properly assessed for suicidal thinking.

10) Ask how the staff monitors for behavioral signs and symptoms of suicide.

11)  If the staff or psychiatrist wants to relax suicide precautions to less than constant tell the staff you want to be notified to discuss this with staff.  You will want to know if there has been significant, stable, and reliable change in your loved one to warrant a step down in protection. Remind the staff that hanging is the number one way patients die by suicide in a hospital. Remind staff that ordinarily this is done in the privacy of the patient’s room or bathroom.

12) If a staff member acts rude with you or to your loved one, insist to see the staff member’s supervisor and explain you concern. Suboptimal staff-patient relationships are a risk factor for suicide. You want your loved one to have hope and not to feel like he is a burden or no one cares.

13)  When it comes time for discharge from the hospital, again make sure you are part of the discharge process. If you don’t feel like your loved one is ready for discharge say so and tell staff why. Again, make sure you see staff document your disapproval in the chart.

If staff insists on discharging your loved one ask to speak to the CEO of the hospital. If all else fails, call 911 and report that your loved one who you believe is still suicidal is being discharged from a psychiatric unit.

14) If you feel your loved one is safe for discharge make sure your loved one’s transition to outpatient care is smooth and immediate. Why? Post discharge of psychiatric patients admitted to a hospital for suicidal protection, is a very dangerous high risk time for a suicide attempt.

15) Very important: Make sure all guns are removed from your home, your car (check carefully under the seats, glove compartment, trunk… think like a police officer who is checking for drugs), your relatives and friends homes and cars, and anywhere in sheds or other hiding places around the home or apartment.   Skip Simpson, in making this list, has handled cases where guns were hidden and used post discharge.

16) Ask hospital staff how many suicides have occurred in the hospital in the last 5 years. Get an answer from someone.

17)  Ask staff what they do to ensure the hospital is safe for your loved one.  Do they have suicide prevention committee meetings? Do they utilize a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis? This analysis thinks of ways that patients could suicide in a hospital and fixes what needs to be fixed before a suicide occurs.

Patients, Families Suffer When Safety Rules Are Ignored by Hospitals

The hospital has lots of patients. You have one loved one who needs protecting. Make sure your loved one is on the top of the hospital’s list to protect.

The suicide prevention literature makes the who, what, where, why and how of inpatient suicide very clear. There is no guess work in making psychiatric hospitals safe.  When the safety rules are not followed, only the patients and their loved ones suffer the consequences.  Not the financial statement of the hospitals or the hospital leaders.

If you lost a loved one due to inpatient suicide, you may be able to pursue insufficient suicide watch compensation or recover damages for suicide in a hospital. For a free and confidential consultation, contact a tough yet understanding lawyer who can help you seek the justice you deserve. Contact Skip Simpson Attorneys and Counselors by calling 214-618-8222 or completing online contact form.

How many times, when you were extremely anxious, depressed, overwhelmed, and suicidal, did you call your primary care physician after hours? Remember the recording, “If this is an emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room?”  You muster up the courage to go to the Emergency Room, only to endure a wait, perhaps for hours. You might conclude the wait is making you more stressed and leave (wrong choice) or you might wait to be seen by the ER staff. Is the ER staff competent to help?  Maybe not. If you are overwhelmed will you need a family member or a friend to help you negotiate the ER? Absolutely.

Emergency rooms are recognized as an important component of suicide prevention … if the ER is competently staffed. Studies indicate that on average 412,000 ER visits per year are related to intentional self-harm or suicide attempts. Thousands more go the ER seeking help for mental health concerns including increased anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide. Many visits to the ER are by folks who have not yet attempted suicide but are in a suicidal crisis and need an intervention to prevent an attempted suicide. Now for the rub.

For effective treatment to occur in the ER, the ER staff must detect, assess, and manage the suicide risk before suicidal individuals choose that most desperate and final act. In those situations in which suicidal people have made it to the emergency room, most of us believe they are safe and will be protected.  Not so! Most emergency room staff, including the doctors, are poorly trained – or not trained at all – in the detection, assessment, management, and treatment of suicidal persons.

Steps to Take to Get the Help You Need

A recent report in Academic Emergency Medicine, the official journal for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, concludes “…suicide screening for adults in the [emergency department] (ED) is far from universal, which is concerning as many individuals at risk for suicidal behavior seek treatment in the ED.” The report states that many patients presenting with suicide risk factors were not screened for suicide. In a nutshell, a suicidal patient is going to need assistance from a friend or loved one in the ER to enhance the chances of the patient getting better help.

What can you do to get the help you need?

1. First understand that the ER may not be as good as we would like it in assessing and treating suicidal patients, but it is clearly the best choice when there is a suicidal crisis.  The likelihood is that if you, and your loved one or friend follows these steps, the ER, with your help, will make better decisions.
2. If you are suicidal, tell a family member or friend you are having suicidal thoughts and need help. Tell the family member or friend you would like them to take you to the emergency room. Trying to handle a suicide crisis without professional help is like flying a plane without a license.
3. After you arrive at the ER tell the first person working at the ER you see that you are suicidal and need help and now.
4. If you are a friend or family member helping the suicidal patient, make sure the ER staff knows your friend or loved one is suicidal and needs help now.
5. Make sure you see the intake person write in the records that the presenting patient is stating they are suicidal and needs help. If they don’t write it in the charts, ask them to do so. ER staff will have second thoughts on prematurely discharging a patient when the records state the patient is suicidal and thinking of killing themselves if not helped.
6. Make sure the intake nurse knows clearly the last time you thought about suicide and what it is you thought. If you thought about shooting yourself, say so. If overdosing, say so. If hanging yourself, say so. If you are helping the suicidal patient make sure you understand the answers to these questions and tell the intake nurse if the patient does not.
7. Understand that the point of this exercise is to get the protection you need. If protected and the underlying reasons for the suicidal thinking are properly treated with the correct counseling and medication, things WILL get better.
8. If the ER staff makes the suicidal patient wait in the ER, make sure you don’t let them leave the waiting room if possible. Don’t be afraid to speak out loud and clear if the suicidal patient is leaving. Silence or being embarrassed to speak out could be a deadly decision.  Remember you are with your spouse, child, or friend for a reason: getting them help & keeping them safe.
9. If the ER staff makes a decision to discharge the suicidal patient, ask the staff if they assessed the patient for suicide.
10. Ask the staff why they think the patient is safe?
11. Ask the staff if the patient can safely be left alone?  If the answer is no, ask why not?  Get the name of the ER staff member who says your loved one or friend is safe. Ask the staff member for a safety plan. Insist on the safety plan.
12. If you don’t get a safety plan ask to speak to the ER physician for an explanation of why no plan?
13. Ask the staff for the specific reason your loved one is not being admitted inpatient. If admitted they will likely only be in the hospital for 3-5 days … a small price in time to have many more years of life.
14. Listen to the reasons for not admitting inpatient. If you believe your loved one or friend is in danger for hurting themselves if not helped, tell the staff why you think that. Again, tell the staff to record in the patient’s records your concern.
15. Remember the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
16. Patients and their loved ones and friends can’t count on the ER to get it right.  You must make it clear, even to the untrained, that your loved one and friend need to be properly assessed and managed.

At the Law Offices of Skip Simpson, we understand how devastating it is to lose a family member or friend to suicide. If you lost a loved one, you will need a compassionate lawyer who works hard to hold mental health professionals accountable. Contact a Dallas attorney with a highly successful track record who represents clients nationally. Call 214-618-8222 or fill out our online contact form.

The link between bullying and suicidal thoughts among teenagers has long been established, with early medical journals dating back as far as 1910 addressing the impact of harassment or teasing behavior on suicidal ideation.

Now, a new study published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics takes a closer look at how bullying can affect young people in today’s world. The study confirmed that victims of all types of bullying had an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, but that new forms of bullying in a digital age have exacerbated the problem.

Understanding the risk factors for suicidal thoughts among teens is important as parents, family members and other caregivers can be more alert for potential signs of problems at times when the teen is at the greatest risk. When a professional is providing therapy or treatment to a teen who is the victim of cyber bullying or other denigrating behavior, it is essential that the teen has adequate support. A suicide attorney can help families affected by a death by suicide to take legal action against a mental health counselor or other party who failed to provide appropriate treatment and/or who failed to provide a correct diagnosis for a teen experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Risk Factors for Suicidal Thoughts Among Teens

Suicide is one of the leading causes of teen deaths worldwide, and between five and eight percent of teenagers in the U.S. attempt to die by suicide annually. Bullying is also common among young people. As many as one out of every five teens is involved in some type of bullying.

Researchers decided to take a closer look at how this widespread bullying is affecting rates of death by suicide. A total of 34 different studies on suicidal ideation and peer victimization were reviewed. In total, the studies provided data on 284,375 young people between the ages of nine and 21.

The researchers found that children who had experienced bullying were 2.23 times as likely to have suicidal thoughts as those children who had not been victimized by abusive or aggressive behavior. In situations where the children had both been a bully and been bullied by others, there was a slightly greater risk of suicidal thoughts. These children were 2.35 times as likely to consider death by suicide than young people who had not had any involvement with bullying at all.

The greatest risk-factor, however, was cyber-bullying, or bullying that takes place on the Internet. A young person who had been bullied via text message, via email or via an online video was 3.12 more likely to consider death by suicide than someone who had not been victimized.

There were many possible reasons why online cyber bulling is a bigger risk factor than traditional bullying. For one thing, material may be stored online and accessed repeatedly, resulting in the victim relieving the denigrating experience more frequently. Being bullied on the Internet could also cause a young person to feel as if he or she had been humiliated in front of a wider audience. The added risk factor existed across all age groups as well as for both boys and girls. Parents, teachers and mental health professionals should be aware of the risks and help to prevent teen bullying online and off.

A suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can help. Call (214) 618-8222 to schedule a free case consultation.

An emotional reunion occurred recently when a U.K. man was able to track down the stranger who helped him at a dark time in his life. The U.K. man had been having suicidal thoughts and was about to jump off of the Waterloo Bridge in London.  He had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and was concerned that recovery would be difficult.  When standing on the end of the bridge, however, he heard a man’s voice behind him.  The man asked him to go for coffee and talk.

The simple invitation made all the difference, and the U.K. man now describes his life as wonderful six years later. He began a campaign to find the man who saved his life, and the two met up recently.  The wonderful story shows that sometimes it takes just one person to reach out and prevent a death by suicide. Unfortunately, people experiencing suicidal thoughts hide them from those closest to them and never get the help they need. Recognizing signs of suicidal thoughts can be difficult for family members and friends, although mental health professionals should be trained to identify red flags; most aren’t.

Two-Thirds of those in America who contemplate suicide are not under the care of a mental health clinician.  The goal is to get all folks needing mental health into competent care.  Competent care is the challenge.  Graduate and some medical schools are not properly training their students on managing and accessing patients at risk for suicide.  Licensing agencies are not properly testing new clinicians on treating suicidal patients.  Consequently unless the clinician learns by self-study how to manage their patients or the employers of the clinicians insure proper training has occurred, the at risk patient will not receive the care he or she needs.

Those who lose loved ones due to death by suicide may be able to take action against mental health counselors who failed to provide the necessary help or to take action to stop a death by suicide.  Contact a suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson to speak with a lawyer who can help.

Reaching out to Prevent Death by Suicide

As the Huffington Post reports,  the man standing on the edge of the Waterloo Bridge in London had been unable to tell his friends or his family members about his intentions. He describes being afraid of his suicidal thoughts and feelings and being unable to vocalize them to anyone.

When the total stranger came up behind him on the bridge, however, the kindness made an impact.  Instead of jumping, the man turned around to see his face and hear the simple message that things could get better.

The good Samaritan listened to his explanation of how he was feeling, and eventually this was enough to get him to step back off the ledge and agree to go for coffee. Police took him into custody once off the bridge, put him into an ambulance headed for Saint Thomas Hospital.  He never got to say goodbye to the good Samaritan or to thank him, until he found him on the Internet and they were able to reunite.

The happy ending in this story will hopefully help to inspire others to get involved and offer help even to strangers who are struggling. Perhaps the story could also make a difference in the lives of someone with suicidal thoughts.  Like the man in this story, many people with suicidal thoughts cannot or will not tell their closest family members. The important thing is that someone, even a stranger, notices and listens.

How can family members learn what suicidal risk factors to look for in their loved ones?   The book “The Suicide Lawyers: Exposing Lethal Secrets” by CC Risenhoover is the perfect choice. Risenhoover interviews Skip Simpson who outlines his experiences in years of teaching and litigating about suicidal patients.

A suicide attorney at the Law Offices of Skip Simpson can take action against mental health providers. Call (214) 618-8222 or visit www.skipsimpson.com to schedule a consultation.