In need of a class on "How to commit suicide"

[Don1977]

Try this...

[lemming12]

What i have always believed is that taking your own life is unacceptable. It should never be considered an option. But it happens, and when it does you know that those individuals went through some pretty tough doo-doo to get to the point where they actually thought taking their life would be a viable solution. I also think it's pretty pathetic that their families and friends that are oh-so-close could have tried to do somehting about it, and they most often didnt.

Now just because i believe its wrong doesnt mean i can't understand how they got to this point or even why they did this. I can understand how the fmaily and friends must feel. Not only can i understand these things, i can treat these things as well.

I always consider EMS as the first line of defense so to speak. We are the first counselors, advisors, educators, helpers to arrive - we show up to the very time and place that their lives are falling apart. Usually it is the treatment of the crew to the pateitn and family that makes or breaks how they recover from the incident. We have a professional obligation, not to mention an ethical and moral one to show respect and empathy no matter what our personal opinions. Sure, I might laugh at how a guy can put a gun in his mouth, pull the trigger, and MISS! later, but i'll still go in and treat him and his bystanders with the utmost dignity decorum and respect i can.

I think anyone who belongs in this profession knows how to separate the incident from the patient as an individual human being with a heart and a soul and a mind and emotions. If you don't know how to separate it, and even laugh about it at the right place and time, you do not belong in EMS.

We need to empathize, not necessarily sympathize. Sure i can understand why a person felt so hopeless, doesn't mean i think that it warranted suicide.

But also i think that still we can't afford to take everything so seriously- we should lagh at the idiocy and ironies we come across, or we would be so weighed down from all the sorrow we encounter we would probably want to kill ourselves as well!

-Mel @};-

[streethealer535]

Its called Gallows humor its a coping mechanism... so lay off the guy huh.. its dam funny... if you don't take life soo serious. Death is enevitable, life ends, its about what we do to make a difference when we are here... So light'n up and smile!!!

JJ

PS evilmedic13 ... thats some funny stuff right there...