Taylor Ferguson Eng 2020 October 29, 2019

Will you Succeed? Don’t count on it.

In Utah, the leading cause of preventable death is suicide. 628
Utahns will die from suicide every year. That is one person every Treat-and-release
fourteen hours. If that immense loss of life isn’t tragic enough, the Hospitalizations
Deaths by suicide
cost on average per death is close to of $1.3 million per person. Those
4,000
costs come in the form of medical cost, lost wages, etc. all adding up
to a total of roughly $630 million lost annually to suicide.(Violence &
Injury Prevention Program, Utah Department of Health)
3,000 3,280
The financial plot thickens when we look at hospitalizations
and medical visits caused by suicide attempts. Both of which have
numbers that are substantial and staggering. In 2014 the cost of
2,000
hospitalizations and ‘treat-and-release’ patients seen in emergency
departments throughout Utah was $34.8 million for Utah families
(Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, Utah Department of Health).
Which broken down evenly between all patients is roughly $7,600 1,000 1,294
dollars per visit. Which is clearly not an even financial split seeing as
some people are simply seen, treated for minor injuries, and are then 628
released. While others who are more critically injured may be 0
hospitalized for months, with medical bills drastically increasing Utah Department of health (1)

daily.
 We know that figure of $7,600 dollars isn’t a very accurate measurement simply based on the
varying types of hospital visits and the different costs associated with each.

If we look at the statistics of attempted suicides ( even though they are difficult to track,
because not all attempts require/seek medical attention afterwards) in contrast to the number of
completed suicides, the generalized ratio we end up with is staggering. A 67:1 chance of actually
dying when you attempt suicide. However that is just the raw math. Gender, age, and method make
things a little different.

The information in this paper is meant

to provide you, the reader, with the
understanding that statistically you
shouldn’t count on your suicide attempt
to be a successful suicide attempt. That
statistic being 67 attempted suicides to
one completed suicide is sobering to say
the least.

Now as we take a better look at what

factors will lead to a successful or
unsuccessful suicide attempt we first can
Violence and injury report ~2014 look at gender, male vs. female, and we
can glean a lot of information. A study
based on gender to predict lethality in
suicides (Choo, Carol C.) showed that while women were consistently
higher in quantity of suicide attempts, men were consistently higher in
completion rates. As seen in a report put out by the Utah Department
of health’s “violence and injury report” from 2014 (Annor, Francis B).

One of the demographics that is the most at risk for suicide is

the LGBT community. More specifically the individuals within the
LGBT community that are transgender. According to Equality Utah
(Equality Utah - Suicide Prevention), 40% of transgender people in
Utah reported having attempted suicide at some point, with 92% of
those individuals reporting suicide attempts before the age of 25 years
old.
Along with age, and gender being a big factor in suicide success rates. Methods are also a key factor
wether or not a suicide attempt will be successful or not. In Utah suicide attempts that involve
firearms will be largely more successful than any other method. In addition to a firearm being used,
if it is used by a male, chances of completed suicide are much higher. Next would be poisoning or
commonly said “overdose”, closely followed by suffocation.(Health, Department of “Complete
Health Indicator Report of Suicide.”)

Ultimately, what I’m trying to say is, unless an individual is very deliberate with how they go
about their suicide attempt there is a very good chance they will be unsuccessful. Which very easily
can be taken as adding insult to injury, and can lead to individuals spiraling and having
compounding problems for the rest of their lives.

We as citizens in the state of Utah, can and should do better about speaking up with those
around us who we feel might be contemplating suicide. It’s as simple as taking the time to have a
heartfelt conversation with that person (and if you are worried about the possibility of them killing
themselves) speaking up, and asking directly if they are in fact contemplating suicide. It’s a simple
thing, but it is the first best easiest thing that we can do as neighbors unilaterally to get people the
help they need so that we can quell this crisis that we are currently plagued with.
 Works Cited

Annor, Francis B., et al. “Characteristics of and Precipitating Circumstances

Surrounding Suicide Among Persons Aged 10-17 Years - Utah,
2011-2015.” MMWR: Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 67, no. 11,
Mar. 2018, pp. 329–332. EBSCOhost, doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6711a4.

Choo, Carol C., et al. “Prediction of Lethality in Suicide Attempts:

“Gender Matters.” Omega: Journal of Death & Dying, vol. 80, no. 1, Nov.
2019, pp. 87–103. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/0030222817725182.

“Equality Utah - Suicide Prevention.” Equality Utah - Home,

https://www.equalityutah.org/issues/suicide-prevention#equality-utah-s-
participation-on-utah-s-teen-suicide-prevention-task-force.

“Suicide Data.” Violence & Injury Prevention Program,

Utah Department of Health, http://health.utah.gov/vipp/data/suicide.html.

Health, Deparment of. “Complete Health Indicator Report of Suicide.”

IBIS, https://ibis.health.utah.gov/ibisph-view/indicator/complete_profile/
SuicDth.html.

Utah Inpatient Hospital Discharge Data, Office of Health Care Statistics;

Utah Emergency Department Encounter Database, Bureau of Emergency
Medical Services, Utah Department of Health, 2012-2014 data queried via
Utah’s Indicator Based Information System for Public Health (IBIS-PH) [cited
2016 July]. IBIS Version 2014.

“Utah Suicide Prevention Plan 2017-2021.” Utah Suicide Prevention Plan

2017-2021, Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition , 2017. https://
utahsuicideprevention.org/.