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Friday, February 04, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Suicide drop fails to hearten experts
A decline in 1999 in Clark County means little given the state's overall high number of those killing themselves, activists and officials say.
By Glenn Puit
Review-Journal
For the first time in three years, the annual number of suicides in Clark County has dropped, according to statistics compiled this week by the Clark County coroner's office.
Despite a decrease from 286 suicides in 1998 to 268 in 1999, several experts said suicide remains a public health epidemic in the Las Vegas Valley, where a significant number of children and senior citizens took their lives last year. Though the decrease also bucks what has been a gradual decade-long trend of rising suicides in Clark County, the state as a whole again has the highest suicide rate in the nation.
"I don't think the numbers reflect a whole lot at this point," said Linda Flatt, a grass-roots activist from Henderson who has been lobbying federal and state officials for years to adopt a statewide strategy to address suicides in Nevada. "I'm encouraged the numbers are down, but with that many suicides, it's obvious we still have a lot of work to do."
Coroner Ron Flud said he is optimistic that the work of community volunteers and the Suicide Prevention hot line has made a difference. But he said that the statistics traditionally fluctuate, and to discern patterns can be difficult.
Of the 268 victims, eight were children 17 years old or younger, and 75 of them were older than 60. Of the suicides by seniors, 17 were committed by individuals 80 or older.
Men between the ages of 30 and 59 were the most likely to kill themselves in Clark County, the statistics indicated. And, overall, men constituted about 81 percent of the suicides.
According to the American Association for Suicidology, Nevada again had the highest suicide rate in the nation per capita in 1998, the most recent year studied. That is not a shock: The state has ranked either at the top of the list or near it for at least the past five years.
Several reasons have been offered for the state's high suicide rate, from problem gambling to Las Vegas' reputation as a place where someone can take a last shot at financial success.
"Nobody really knows the answer as to why, but the transient aspect of this community and the constant availability of alcohol, drugs and gambling certainly plays a role," Flatt said.
The coroner's office does not track the motives behind individual suicides because in many cases, to do so is impossible.
In 1999, Dr. Christian Marfels of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, began studying whether problem gambling is really behind Nevada's suicide problem, as gaming industry critics contend.
Marfels, in a Wednesday interview with the Review-Journal, said he studied case files of suicides by visitors to Las Vegas from 1990 to 1998. The economics professor found that of cases in which a motive could be determined, 5 percent were directly related to problem gambling.
He said most of suicides were because of depression, relationship breakups and alcohol and drug abuse. Marfels is studying suicides by Clark County residents during the same time span, and he said preliminary indicators are that gambling problems account for about 4 percent of those fatalities.
"People in Clark County may be able to breath a sigh of relief because gambling is apparently not the overwhelming cause for people ending their life," Marfels said. "It certainly causes great trouble though for some people."
The real problem behind the suicide rate in Clark County, Flatt said, is apathy, a lack of resources and a lack of commitment to solving the problem by elected leaders.
People who have suicidal thoughts can call an area or statewide suicide hot line, but low-cost or free intervention services are limited. They are available at the Southern Nevada Mental Health Center, and while private hospitals and mental health establishments do offer some free services, most of their suicide intervention programs are only available to the insured or those with money to pay for them.
Flatt said the recent closure of the private Charter Behavioral Health Services will stretch limited suicide resources further.
"You are not going to prevent some people from committing suicide, but it has been my experience that most suicides are preventable," said Flatt, whose son took his own life. "They are preventable with the right type of intervention, the right type of treatment and with public education."
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