Key Steps to Reduce Suicide

Abstract

a call that was dispatched as a suicide attempt. He found a young woman, her husband, their baby, and an empty bottle of Tylenol. The distraught husband said his wife had taken a large amount of the pills to try to kill herself. Jim asked the weary-looking woman, Maria, what had happened. She said she was depressed, had a bad headache, and had taken some Tylenol. Jim asked Maria directly, but compassionately, if she had been trying to kill herself. Maria would not give a clear answer, so Jim asked if she had ever attempted suicide. Then Maria started to cry and said she had attempted when she was a teenager and had vowed to never do it again. But now life was too difficult with the new baby and her husband unemployed, and she just couldn’t take it anymore. Jim suggested that Maria and her husband go to the hospital to talk with a doctor to get some help for Maria, and Maria hesitantly agreed. At the hospital, Jim told the emergency department physician that Maria had taken a large amount of Tylenol, had attempted suicide in the past, and now “just couldn’t take it anymore. ” The physician thanked Jim for the information and said it was helpful