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The Reality of Suicide Contagion

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We have written before on this blog about the dangerous reality of suicide contagion (i.e. suicide influencing others to commit suicide.)  While there is data to back this up, the anecdotal evidence is equally gripping – and there is more of that evidence in a new report from last week.

On National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” they explored the tragic crisis of suicides at high schools in California’s Silicon Valley.  The audio and transcript of NPR’s report can be found here, and we think it’s an important reminder for our debate here in Maryland.

The report was covering a story in the forthcoming December 2015 issue of The Atlantic magazine, and that is a longer read on the broader sociological implications that we also highly recommend.

As more and more stories like this are shared, we hope that lawmakers considering legalizing physician assisted suicide listen closely. With a study showing a clear link between legal assisted suicide and increased total suicides, how can they even consider legislation that would lead to more suicides?

We hope you will listen to the NPR interview, and read the piece from The Atlantic.

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