About one million people (in US) attempt suicide a year and cost the nation $500 billion. How is this cost calculated and why is this figure so high ($500,000) for each attempt?
In: 221
If we had a place for people to top themselves without any hassle, would the cost be as high?
You guys are getting paid?
It also might have something to do with YPLL which is Years of Potential Life Lost. Think of it as years the person is not working. That is productivity that had the opportunity to happen but never did.
[removed]
The simplest way to picture how these are calculated is “What would happen if my partner/family member was to unsuccessfully commit suicide”. First of all there would likely be medical intervention required of some kind – lets take OD which is fairly common. Usually we are talking an ambulance ride, several days in hospital and (hopefully) an extended rehab program and counselling. These are direct costs. Indirect costs include the (cumulatively) several weeks off work, even dozens, taken by the people around this person. Parents, siblings, partners and older children are all likely to be significantly impacted and may require counselling services too. The person who made the attempt may take months before they can work again. This is all lost productivity.
These big numbers try to rate the economic impact of the event, its more than just the police/medical helps.
> why is this figure so high ($500,000) for each attempt?
Most people who kill themselves do so young.
Young people are expensive for the taxpayer to raise, and won’t themselves have paid much tax back into the system.
So if they die, its a net loss to the taxpayer
Its also a loss to any private enterprise to whom they owed money, as that debt will probably be more than the worth of their estate, so would be written off.
Unfortunately a colleague very recently took her own life. I’d say that I’ve done about 50% of my normal workload since, which would be similar to a lot of others.
[removed]
An ex girlfriend of mine is an operating room nurse. She had a case one day of a guy who tried to kill himself by shooting himself in the mouth. Well, he didnt do his research because all he did was blow his face off and paralyze himself from the neck down. Now he gets to live like that forever, after incurring massive medical debt from the surgery and lifelong medical care being fed through a tube and having someone change his diapers. Im sure all that costs way more than half a mil, and i doubt its all getting paid off.
500k isn’t even that high. Think about productivity, taxes, spendings… (virtuous circle, economic growth etc). That’s why they are against suicide, not because they care about you as a person lol
Latest Answers