Course of action after a suicide attempt

[iscream 28]

An American lady in my area called me on Saturday to inform me that her German partner had passed out in the apartment and was taken away by the parameds and police. Turned out that he spiked his vodka with dishwasher tablets in an apparent suicide attempt, and he landed in the ICU.

 

I was shocked to discover that less than 24 hours later he was released back into society and he is back at home where there are two young children, one of whom actually saw him putting the tablets in his drink. Back home, this would have not been the case. This person would have to undergo psychiatric treatment before he is allowed to go anywhere.

 

Does anyone know if this is normal here?

[ajohnson 16]

I haven't dealt with it here in Germany. But someone very close to me tried to kill herself by overdosing on a variety of drugs. She was hospitalized for a couple of days and then released and her family told that she needed to be in some sort of program to monitor her until she was no longer a danger to herself (and others). But it was not forced on her by the medical professionals. It was up the family and her to seek help.

[DDBug 1,665]

I don't think it's normal - unless they played it off as an accident. Several years ago I got a phone call in the middle of the night from my old roommate - she came home to find her new roommate incoherently babbling and lolling around, and we knew this girl had a prescription to sleeping pills, was stressed/depressed etc. So she called an ambulance and I went over. By the time I got there she had been taken to Bogenhausen. At Bogenhausen they pumped her stomach and then sent her to Haar. She was there for a couple weeks. She had not even tried to kill herself, but had decided to have a couple of night caps (brandy) on top of the extra sleeping pill she took because she hadn't been sleeping well. Anyway, it was a total blackout and she didn't remember insulting the ambulance driver or trying to kick the doctor - that's probably the real reason they sent her for observation though. Her behaviour and not the accidental slight overdose.

[MonksTown 104]

I always thought a suicide attempt meant a stay out at Haar for a while...

[eurovol 126]

 

Turned out that he spiked his vodka with dishwasher tablets in an apparent suicide attempt,

Haha, that is funny. Death by the shits. Hell, we used to spike the Scoutmasters food with some of the strongest detergent known to man and it is like extra strength black draught. Sorry for laughing, but that was a lame attempt by the person involved.

[Jules Winnfield 60]

From what I've heard, people who really mean to commit suicide, unfortunately, get it right the first time around...

[Showem 868]

Nice Eurovol, real classy, you and your high IQ.

[Allershausen 6,414]

 

Haha, that is funny. Death by the shits. Hell, we used to spike the Scoutmasters food with some of the strongest detergent known to man and it is like extra strength black draught. Sorry for laughing, but that was a lame attempt by the person involved.

I believe dishwasher tablets are extremely caustic, the ones that go in the dishwashing machine, we're not talking about washing up liquid here!

[Eleanor Rigby 1,934]

 

From what I've heard, people who really mean to commit suicide, unfortunately, get it right the first time around...

You heard wrong.

 

Most suicide victims have a history of suicidal attempts and ideation before they actually suceed.

[Kza 49]

Geez if someone really wants out, and I dont blame people at all if they do decide that this crazy world is not for them, then why not just let them? This guy was probably just attention seeking though so all hospitalisation would do would pander to that.

[MonksTown 104]

Interesting issue raised by JW. Women ttend to "attempt suicide" more often than men but it is if you like a "cry for help" and they don't mean to kill themselves. However men, tend not to go for that cry for help and actually DO kill themselves. Men tend to choose the most effective methods of killing themselves. There is a real big problem particuarly of young men committing suicide.

[Jules Winnfield 60]

Interesting. I was under the impression that a lot of the time suicide attempts were "calls for help" and that people who were really desperate "got it right" in the sense that the methods used left little room for error (see Hunter S. Thompson, Kurt Cobain, etc.).

 

EDIT: Woah! MonksTown and I posted something very similar there!? There are some weird vibes on TT this morning...

[Eleanor Rigby 1,934]

MT, I don't think that's necessarily true. Women tend to use different methods such as pills and slitting wrists which are less effective than men who tend to use guns and hanging. The intent isn't necessarily different only the means.

 

JW, a lot of suicide attempts do start out as calls for help but when help isn't given it progresses to the next step. This is not to say that there isn't the odd case of someone commiting suicide completely out of the blue but for the most part there are obvious signs and a previous suicide attempt is the number one indicator that a succesful attempt is to follow.

 

I'll try and find stats but it's my understanding that very few people suceed on the first attempt.

[eurovol 126]

Household Product Database.

 

Ingestion: Tablet or tablet fragments may present a choking hazard.

Eye Contact: May cause moderate, transient irritation, including redness.

Skin: May cause moderate, transient irritation, including dryness.

Inhalation: Can cause mild respiratory irritation.

 

Signs and Symptoms of Exposure:

Ingestion: Ingestion may result in tablet lodging causing moderate to severe upper gastrointestinal irritation, burning, discomfort or corrosion of tissue which may impede a person's ability to speak or swallow.

Sorry, it struck me as funny because me and my IQ know that there are better ways to kill yourself than trying to choke on a tab.

[Crawlie 294]

Jules - This "cry for help" bollocks was made famous by Princess Di in her autobiography. It became the in phrase for many many years after that...

 

I dunno. I find suicide one of the most selfish acts anyone could ever consider. Especially those arseholes who throw themselves in front of trains and the like.

[brokenm 37]

In University I worked as a pharmacy technician for a Level I trauma center hospital. I would receive weekly a phone call from someone who ingested the whole medicine cabinet. I would normally transfer them to a counselor or the Emergency Department (ED), depending on my perceived urgency. However, the first time I received one of these calls I tried to transfer them to the ED, and when the ED answered the phone the transfer did not work and I hung up on the caller. I quickly spoke with my boss and explained what I did. His response was that I would read about it in the newspaper in the next couple of days. However, five minutes later, they called again and said, that something might have happened that disconnected us and if I could tranfer them again. Needless to say, many people attempt suicide only for the attention. I believe in the US a person can only be held against their will for a psychiatric observation for 72 hours.

 

Didn't the Roman emperor Hadrian declare suicide a capital offense?

[Eleanor Rigby 1,934]

Does attempting suicide "for attention" make it any less serious?

 

That alone tells me that the person in question is in serious need of help.

[kitkat64 461]

People who commit suicde, Crawlie, may be, in your opinion, selfish but, trust me, they can think of nothing except ending their own pain. Someone who is suicidal is obviously not thinking rationally, therefore they're not thinking about their families.

 

I have a friend who attempted suicide by taking a bottle of pills. She was alone, she called her father, her father called 911(he lives 2 hours away) and then her parents blamed her friends and denied that she had a problem. It was horrible. She went to counseling twice a week for about a month and that was it. She acted like it never even happened.

[brokenm 37]

@ER

Yes

[eurovol 126]

All attempted suicides require professional help before they become successful suicides.