For example, if a physician injects a patient with a lethal overdose of a pain-killing medication, he or she is performing euthanasia. Because the other person is often a physician, the act is often called "doctor-assisted suicide." Euthanasia strictly speaking means that the physician or other person is the one who performs the last act that causes death. Assisted suicide, which is often called "self-deliverance" in Britain, refers to a person's bringing about his or her own death with the help of another person. It is important to distinguish between physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, or "mercy killing.". Physician-assisted suicide has become a topic of concern since it was legalized in the Netherlands in 2001 and in the state of Oregon in 1997. One question that has been raised in developed countries as the average life expectancy increases is the legalization of assisted suicide for persons suffering from a painful terminal illness. The lifetime mortality due to suicide in psychiatric patients is 15% for major depression 20% for bipolar disorder 18% for alcoholism 10% for schizophrenia and 5-10% for borderline and certain other personality disorders. Major depression accounts for 60% (especially in the elderly), followed by schizophrenia, alcoholism, substance abuse, borderline personality disorder, Huntington's disease, and epilepsy. Over 90% of Americans who commit suicide have a significant mental illness. Mood-altering substances are a factor in suicide because they weaken a person's impulse control. In 2001, 55% of reported suicides in the United States were committed with guns. Death by firearms is the most common method for women as well as men as of the early 2000s.
Examples of the latter include the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia St.
A history of previous suicide attempts.