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Suicide has been commanding greater attention from the news media in recent weeks. This should be of more significance for Nevadans than some others.
Nevada leads all other states in its suicide rate according to Dr. Nancy Osgood, associate professor of gerontology at Virginia Commonwealth University, who has done extensive research on the subject.
She was the principal speaker at a Las Vegas seminar on suicide April 4, where she said that every 80 minutes a person age 65 or over takes his or her own life in the United States.
"The rate of suicide among elderly persons increased 80 percent during the Reagan years in the White House," Osgood said.
She said the reason could be due to cuts in social programs between the years 1980-88.
"There has been a more permissive attitude in America toward suicide since 1980 because of the Hemlock Society and the activities of Dr. Jack Kevorkian," Osgood said.
White men over 65 are three times more likely to commit suicide than white women. And this ratio escalates even higher when men reach age 75.
Black women have the lowest ratio in the adult population, Osgood said. Teen-agers, however, have the highest rate of attempted suicide. When they succeed, it generates more news coverage, bringing with it the assumption that the rate is actually higher than its real numbers.
Osgood said the validity of available statistics are "far from perfect." She said many elderly who stop eating or drinking have their cause of death listed as natural, whereas they may have really died of starvation or dehydration.
Some of the factors associated with elderly suicide, according to Osgood, include being widowed or divorced late in life; being retired or unemployed; maintaining an urban residence; living alone or being isolated; or making a recent move, whether within a nursing home, or from one house or apartment to another.
"Most elderly who commit suicide are not terminally ill, nor is illness a major factor," Osgood said. "Alcoholism, clinical depression, low self-esteem and feelings of rejection are the factors placing people at high risk to commit suicide."
Osgood said that money problems can also be an important factor.
"We have a two-tiered set of financial capacities," she said. "Those who are poor and barely able to eke out an existence are more vulnerable to suicide than those who can buy better care."
This raised the question whether gaming in Nevada -- thus gambling losses -- was a factor in the state having the highest suicide rate in the nation.
Sen. Harry Reid, who was the luncheon speaker at the seminar, said, "No, it is not."
He cited suicide rates in New Jersey, which also has gaming, as among the lowest in the United States.
"Suicide rates in the Midwest and the East Coast are far below those in the West," Reid said. "Actually, the highest states in suicides are all in the West. Why this is so, I don't know, but these are the facts begging to be studied."
Edward M. Atchinson, chairman of Nevada's Senior Suicide Prevention Task Force, said legislation is being sought to provide $200,000 in funding to develop an adequate outreach program that will reduce suicides in this state.
-- John Finger, president of the Southern Nevada Chapter of the Retired Public Employees of Nevada, is expected to resume the leadership of the group when it meets at 2 p.m. Monday at American Legion Hall, 733 N. Veterans Memorial Drive. Finger has been recovering from heart surgery.
-- The Clark County Chapter of the National Council of Senior Citizens will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. There will be speakers and refreshments. All seniors are welcome.
-- Some local tours are being made available by the Senior Tripsters, the nonprofit travel club located at the Las Vegas Senior Center, 451 E. Bonanza Road. Included is a Lake Mead cruise scheduled for May 9, plus visits to Laughlin, Utah and Lake Tahoe. More information is available by phoning 387-0007.
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