ABSTRACT
Suicides are a significant cause of early death, and are responsible each year for nearly half a million years of life lost in those aged 75 and under.
(Department of Health 1998)
The idea that a person chooses to die creates in us a profound sense of unease. Suicide challenges some of our most deeply held beliefs. It defies the cherished notion that all human life is sacred; it challenges the value of life itself, and places a question mark over the taboos against the taking of life. The suicide of another person forces us to question the value and meaning not only of life in general but of our own individual lives.
