Increase in Suicide by Asphyxiation in New York City after the Publication of Final Exit

Abstract

Coverage of suicides in the news media has been linked with a subsequent increase in suicides,1,2 but there has been some controversy about these studies3. Recently, Dr. Jack Kevorkian and others who advocate assisted suicide for the terminally ill have received widespread publicity. However, the effects of publicity about lethal methods of self-injury4 and assisted suicide, as opposed to media reports of actual suicides, are not known.In March 1991, the Hemlock Society, which advocates voluntary euthanasia, published Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying, by Derek Humphry5. The book discourages the . . .