Seniors in Canada at Greater Risk of Suicide During Illness

TORONTO, June 15, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto has released a study warning physicians that older people may be more susceptible to depression and suicide when they are being treated for other illnesses. The study, published in the journal, Archives of Internal Medicine, shows that seniors have the highest rate of suicide of any age group in Canada.  Dr. David Juurlink, a clinical pharmacologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto headed the study and says that the risk of a successful suicide goes up with the age group. Older people, he says, make more lethal attempts, and often do so within a week of seeing a doctor. Dr.David Conn of Baycrest Centre for Geriatrics said seniors’ depression frequently goes undetected. “There’s a lot of evidence that many seniors with depression are not being identified and treated,” Conn said.  Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition says that he is pleased with the tone of the study that treats this as a serious problem that requires preventive action. “At least suicide is being seen within the light of what we should be doing to help these people,” he says.  The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has tracked attitudes toward elderly and other vulnerable people and has seen a dangerous trend developing. “I am concerned that advocates for euthanasia and assisted suicide,” says Schadenberg, “might flip this message into a pro physician-assisted suicide argument such as: ‘it happens already, it needs to be regulated’ or ‘they are already doing it, if we legalize it, it will be less messy’.”