Suicide Ain't Painless

Came across an interesting article today, talking about how the suicide rate in the UK is falling. Most interesting bit was, what I hope was a typo:


"The latest figures we've seen also demonstrate that one person takes their life every 90 minutes, and we hope that continues to fall because it's still the second highest cause of accidental death in the UK after road traffic accidents."


Accidental death? Surely if there's one thing that suicide isn't, it's not accidental. Misguided maybe, but then who's to say? We have the right to life, but not the right to death?

The Suicide Act, 1961 decriminalized the act of suicide, though raised an interesting legal loophole.


A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or attempt by another to commit suicide shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years".


So basically, the person wanting to die gets off scot-free (though probably with a section - assuming they fail), and the abettor ends up 14 years in the clanger. Laughable! Has the added advantage of being able to kill two birds with one stone (almost literally) if you can coax someone in to help with whom you hold a grudge.