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Lawmakers Push To Create a Three-Digit Suicide Hotline Number (techcrunch.com)
In a letter addressed to the FCC, Senator Ron Wyden urged commissioners to create a three-digit, 911-style suicide hotline number. The Oregon senator cites the CDC's report that more than 40,000 Americans died by suicide in 2017. From a report: "I write on behalf of those struggling with mental health issues, our veterans struggling with PTSD and for those impacted by the tragedy of suicide," Wyden writes. "I urge you to designate a 3-digit code as a Behavioral Health and Suicide Crisis Lifeline. Thank you for your consideration."
While The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launched an 800 line in 2004, many believe the number is too long and cumbersome for those reaching out in their time of need. The letter floats the idea of using 611. The call echoes a similar push last week by Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Chris Stewart to designate the number, which is currently used to report phone service problems by some U.S. and Canadian carriers.
While The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launched an 800 line in 2004, many believe the number is too long and cumbersome for those reaching out in their time of need. The letter floats the idea of using 611. The call echoes a similar push last week by Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Chris Stewart to designate the number, which is currently used to report phone service problems by some U.S. and Canadian carriers.
Is 515(0) already taken?
>> Senator Ron Wyden urged commissioners to create a three-digit, 911-style suicide hotline number. (611)
Somehow this will end up being another $3.99 service fee on each of my phone lines. Seriously: just popping up a "don't kill yourself" chatbot would be cheaper and more effective; we need "better than Boomer" thinking on this one.
Because that's what suicides think they are worth.
Seems like we already have something in place.
That's the number for land-line repair.
Sure, assigning a 3-digit number is so much cheaper than providing actual health care for mental disorders or addressing actual causes for suicides (like tasking people to go somewhere and kill people for no good reason).
Maybe this service can even be financed by harvesting the organs of those who called, thus revealed their location, and then leave a corpse that is fresh enough to leave some parts intact. Such efficiency!
Since governments institute policies that drive people to commit suicide it is only proper for governments to enact legislation to help prevent suicide.
611 for suicide, 911 for extroverted suicide. 311 for a really delicious guacamole recipe.
911 will already transfer callers to suicide intervention, plus they can handle all of the related emergencies that require additional immediate support: for instance "I've just eaten a bunch of random pills" Every mental health professional in the US already has "If this is an emergency hang up and dial 911" on their voicemail.
There is really no need to go through the expense and other regulatory nonsense necessary to establish a new special emergency dialing number for just because you are a senator. This is the same nonsense that brought us the spectacular failure that is the "Amber Alert"
Yes, it's important. But so long as you have a million different 501c3's vying for dollars to "raise awareness" and promote their own competing solutions the problem is effectively gridlocked. We already have a national emergency line that routes you to a person trained to assist with any emergency. Please use it.
Will it help people to kill themselves as cleanly and painfully as possible? Or is one of those, "People shouldn't have the right to end their life, so let's pretend like we care so they may live another day"? Let's be honest, most people don't want to have to deal with people who are suicidal.
It's not fun. It's not about, "People don't love me". It is about the idea that people who don't have a purpose may want to end their life. It's little wonder vets have that problem when they spend a considerable amount of time being told their purpose. And the elderly often do get to a point where they don't have particular reason to live and would rather give as much of their wealth to their loved ones instead of just burning through it and hoping they die naturally first with possibly lots of suffering along the way.
So, is the goal to help? Or make you feel better about yourself?
Bill and Ted's hotline: dial 69 dudes!
I suggest "SOL", since it probably won't get properly funded in the longer run, and/or be so abused by trolls & hackers as to be nearly useless ... kind of like Slashdot :-)
Table-ized A.I.
611 is already allocated to trouble with your phone. Do you really want masses of people calling the suicide line when they really want customer service?
All the others are taken as well, with the possible exception of 111.
Why does the government want to replace people working long hours in the community with a new service?
The use of a hospital, doctor, nurse and the well understood billing systems. All in place, ready to help.
The overtime for the police. Ready to respond.
The ambulance needed.
Thats jobs, professions, education, work, over time, pensions and billing.
To be replaced by a phone?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
"Well! We have to do something""
*nt*
Sign of the TRUMP Republican!
Seriously, this is retarded. We already have 911.
The first thing to do is to ensure that the lines are properly staffed. It is not at all uncommon for a person on a "suicide hotline" call to be put on hold.
Seems like a lawmaker trying to look like he's giving a fuck, but doesn't because he hasn't thought this through at all. We already have enough trouble staffing 911 centers in different parts of the country. Now he wants to make that strain twice as bad, when the existing services aren't so bad now.
Years ago, I had a suicidal friend call me at zero dark thirty. After talking to her for a bit, I told her I was going to call 911 for her, then call her right back. After giving 911 her address/contact information and my contact information, I called her back. Within I want to say 8 minutes, there was someone at her door to make sure she was safe. All people acted professionally, and she got urgent mental health care. How exactly can improve this scenario?
Put another way, I think the senator has absolutely no idea how to handle the suicide rates. If he had spent any time on the ground talking with people, a story like mine should not be uncommon. I'm sure there's parts of the country where my story is rare or non-existent, however, I view that as a job for local governments. Reducing suicide is about solving personal issues that primarily manifest at the local community level. Trying to do anything from the federal level seems foolish and reckless.
You self report that you are a danger to yourself. The cops show up, the mental health experts show up. It is on your medical record for life. Is that what a suicidal person needs is a system that will intervene and never forget? Maybe.
The problem with this is there are a whole lot of folks out there that will never contact anyone as it may be a semi-fleeting thought, but would be very helpful to chat with a person that they know is safe. How many people that have committed suicide called a help line?
As we've left the farms and moved to a life that is boxed in by laws, deadlines, and you better be to work on time, less get fired, people just don't have support systems. People need people, even the people that hate people.
The question should be, how do we foster personal relationships better? How do we help our neighbors? How do the people help each without entering a bureaucracy?
--
No one has ever become poor by giving. -- Anne Frank
What would they do if they got a call from one of the Euthanasia clinics in Portland?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Three digit suicide phone numbers are half-measures - suicides are very hard over the phone anyway. The solution is suicide booths - they should be widely available, like phone booths once were.
Calling 611 now connects you to your phone provider's Customer Service line. Dealing with AT&T's billing dept would make me want to kill myself, too.
0118, 999, 881, 999, 119, 725 . .
That's
0118, 999, 881, 999, 119, 725 . .
Hello, I’ve had a bit of a tumble
Why did a single Senator qualify as "lawmakers"?
After decades of slashing public health dollars to pay for tax cuts to the rich, let's just give those poor a number to call, shall we?
It drives me crazy that we're so paralytically afraid of death that we FORCE life upon others. People who suffer constantly are forced to survive rather than be free of their ailments. Animals are euthanised if they are suffering yet in humans we apparently see death as a worse punishment than living in perpetual agony.
I'm a firm believer that it's YOUR body, YOUR life, and death is the ONE freedom left to all of us. When pain becomes too much, when suffering becomes too much, when debt, loneliness, self-hatred or the realisation that life is ultimately pointless becomes too much it is the one freedom we have left; to leave it all behind and sleep for eternity.
I despise my life, i truly do. I wake up every morning depressed that i didn't die in my sleep but the fact that my mother is still alive is the only thing keeping me from ending it. Am i mentally ill? Do i deserve to be locked up for psych evaluation? Or am i simply sick of the 'gift' of life that was forced upon me against my will? It is my life and i choose to end it as soon as i possibly can.
Not everybody enjoys life, not everybody has a reason to live and simply existing just isn't enough of a reason to stay.
My name is GayPK and I'm gay!! Woooooooo!
I love 8=======D. I said I loooooooooove 8========D
Please commit suicide
How about they use 666? Easy to dial, not hard to remember and if you're Catholic, it helps to remind you of your need to dial.
We already have such a number. It's called 911.
Stop trying to push the cost of a new phone number onto taxpaying citizens!
I don't want to see this crap show up on my phone bill!
Will amazon ever be able to offer a one-click solution for assisted suicide? Or is that too low margin if not purchasing in bulk?
My name is GayPK and I say 'Nay!'
and very pricey. I have several friends who are a bit off and you get zero help unless you're an active danger to yourself or those around you. That's where the "I cut myself to feel alive" thing actually comes from. When mentally ill people feel an attack coming on they usually can't get any help unless they're already violent, so they cut themselves.
But hey, would you risk a 2% income tax increase to pay for it all? Yeah, if we just taxed the upper income guys your taxes probably wouldn't go up, but again, nobody wants to risk it. Given that somewhere between 60-80% of us are paycheck to paycheck I don't know if I can blame them. Man, what a world...
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline launched an 800 line in 2004, many believe the number is too long and cumbersome for those reaching out in their time of need.
I'm having some difficulty in believing this. Picking up the phone and dialing 7 more digits is more cumbersome than committing suicide?
I really don't mean to make light of this, but I just can't see someone holding a gun ready to kill themselves and thinking that if only there was a 3 digit number they could call everything would be fine. But instead of a 10 digit number they would choose to pull the trigger.
If this is the case, why not mandate all phones have a built in single button speed dial to the suicide hotline? I mean 3 digits it just so long and cumbersome. At least a trigger pull and a single button are both a single action. Plus the speed dial button will take less force than a trigger.
When most phones you can just say "Hey (digital assistant here) call the suicide hotline"
An actual social safety net?
Lawmakers: Nope!
Medical care that doesn't require the uninsured to go further into debt or bankruptcy if they get sick?
Lawmakers: Ha ha ha ha ha no.
Help with that depressing student debt?
Lawmakers: Nope!
Better living standards for the next generation?
Lawmakers: Nope!
Renewable green energy that's already less expensive than fossil fuels and which might save the planet for future generations?
Lawmakers: We really like our coal...
Some help for the homeless?
Lawmakers: Uh-uh.
Prozac in the water supply?
Lawmakers: Uh... we'll get back to you on that... But in the mean time, how about a nice 3 digit suicide prevention number?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
2-1-1
all they need is the ability to transfer these types of calls immediately to an actual crisis center if the sponsoring organization that answers the calls in a particular region isn't equipped to handle them themselves.
Isn't this already a thing when you call 211?
http://www.211.org/
Just dial 911. Telecommunicators can directly connect you to the suicide prevention number at the snap of a finger. We use to route calls to ambulance, EMT's, gas leak, etc all the time.
Or they could just use 311 or 911. All of these should work.
It is called "Centro estatal de asistencia al suicida"
For training and QA purposes, your call may be recorded.
Here is such a recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wm6F89rXhI
Show of hands of who thinks you'll end up on a list if you dare call a suicide hotline ?
Think it might come back to haunt you years down the road ?
( Want to take a guess why so many Veterans don't ask for help ? Hint: See Above )
Maybe we should start looking hard at the WHY behind things.
WHY are suicides happening ?
WHY are mass shootings happening ?
WHY are so many depressed or angry to the point of suicide or homicide ?
Wonder if it has anything to do with a mediocre economy, pathetic job market, stagnant wages,
income inequality, non-stop military conflicts / wars, totally useless / lying leadership for the past several
decades, the voting system being a total joke, government spying, etc. etc. This list can go on forever.
The short version: There isn't a whole lot to be happy about in America these days.
Fix the why and you'll solve a lot of issues at once.
In fact, to hell with your idea; kill yourself if you want. Just leave the rest of us out of it, including the $3.99 service fee.
In your case we'll replace it with an asshole tax.
666
This is presumably going to be a government service with a budget. How would anyone know how many suicides were prevented per dollar spent, if budget should be adjusted up or down and which are best councelors to promote / worst ones to fire? Would most traffic be generated by repeated bored callers who are at no serious risk? If you ARE at serious risk, how likely are we to stop you from hurting yourself or others long term in a single call, without a systematic follow up? All in all, we should be running few carefully thought through and well audited services rather than a bunch of feel good projects that nobody understands. As many others have suggested, existing 911 system may have more expertise and ability to follow up / deploy physical assets.
456 I Kill Myself
956 We Kill Ourselves
768 People Off Themselves
566 Kill Me Now
364 Do Me In
567 Kill Me Quickly
763 Shoot Me Down
467 Hang Me Quickly
...would be to use 2580, easy to remember on a phone touchpad as it would sort of simulate someone falling from a building?
-Styopa
This was just a delusional rant filled with misinformation followed by paranoid fantasy.
Nobody suggested 343 as in "I want to 343"
they should not pick a number that is both an upside down 9 and also right next to the 9 on a phone keypad. YESS HELO HALP IM DID CRASH AND MY KID IS DYING. sir, this is 611 not 911 i suggest dialing the 696 dyslexia hotline.
...if they give me another 3-digit number to remember, I'm gonna kill myself!
Seriously, though, I agree with a lot of the posts from others detailing reasons why this isn't a great idea.
666