{"id":296818,"date":"2023-08-21T14:41:56","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T19:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=296818"},"modified":"2023-08-20T22:14:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T03:14:05","slug":"assisted-suicides-not-counted-cdc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/assisted-suicides-not-counted-cdc\/","title":{"rendered":"Assisted suicides not counted among CDC’s reported suicide statistics"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(National Review<\/a>) 2021 was among the worst years ever for suicides in the U.S., with 2022 looking to have been even worse.\u00a0According to the CDC<\/a>, in 2021, 48,183 people killed themselves. That number is projected to increase to 49,449 for 2022 once the data are tabulated.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a terrible tragedy. But it is even worse than that because assisted suicides are not included in the suicide statistics.<\/p>\n

Why? Because the laws legalizing assisted suicide in most states \u2014 which is euphemistically referred to as \u201cmedical aid in dying\u201d (MAID) or \u201cdeath with dignity\u201d \u2014 redefine a doctor-prescribed overdose as other than what it is: suicide. Indeed, most of these laws require doctors to lie about the actual cause as the underlying disease on death certificates rather than the reality of an ingested overdose of barbiturates. Some laws even define these suicides as natural deaths. And states do not include assisted deaths in their own suicide statistics.<\/p>\n

READ: As medically assisted deaths rise, British Columbia denies meds to woman with breast cancer<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You can call a dung beetle a butterfly, but it remains a dung beetle. The term suicide defines what is done, not why. In other words, assisted suicides are as much suicides as jumping off a bridge.<\/p>\n

I checked the most recent state statistics of assisted-suicide deaths compiled in the ten states and D.C. where doctors prescribe death legally \u2014\u00a0available at this link<\/a>. The reporting from the states is not complete, but close enough to get an idea about the total assisted-suicide toll. I found that in 2021, close to 1,400 people died by assisted suicide in the U.S. That means the actual number of suicides in the U.S. in 2021 was just under 50,000 and will surpass that number in 2022.<\/p>\n

The CDC\u2019s statistics do not mention assisted suicide. That\u2019s a mistake. Normalizing suicide as an answer to suffering caused by illness,\u00a0studies have shown<\/a>, normalizes and increases suicides more generally.<\/p>\n

The CDC should add \u201caid in dying\u201d to its suicide statistics and include that category of people who should receive prevention services. Doing otherwise will only make our suicide tragedy even worse going forward.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published at National Review<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(National Review) 2021 was among the worst years ever for suicides in the U.S., with 2022 looking to have been even worse.\u00a0According to the CDC, in 2021, 48,183 people killed themselves. That number is projected to increase to 49,449 for 2022 once the data are tabulated. That\u2019s a terrible tragedy. But it is even worse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":296819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAssisted suicides not counted among CDC's reported suicide statistics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CDC should add \u201caid in dying\u201d to its suicide stats and include that category of people who should receive prevention services, says Smith.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/assisted-suicides-not-counted-cdc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Assisted suicides not counted among CDC's reported suicide statistics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CDC should add \u201caid in dying\u201d to its suicide stats and include that category of people who should receive prevention services, says Smith.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/assisted-suicides-not-counted-cdc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-21T19:41:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-21T03:14:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/GettyImages-1225416108-suicide.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Wesley J. 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