Tag Archives: Suicide

Japan’s Death by Overwork on Rise

oad workers prepare a construction site at night in central Tokyo

By Stanley White

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is witnessing a record number of compensation claims related to death from overwork, or “karoshi”, a phenomenon previously associated with the long-suffering “salary man” that is increasingly afflicting young and female employees.

Labor demand, with 1.28 jobs per applicant, is the highest since 1991, which should help Prime Minister Shinzo Abe draw more people into the workforce to counter the effect of a shrinking population, but lax enforcement of labor laws means some businesses are simply squeezing more out of employees, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Claims for compensation for karoshi rose to a record high of 1,456 in the year to end-March 2015, according to labor ministry data, with cases concentrated in healthcare, social services, shipping and construction, which are all facing chronic worker shortages.

Hiroshi Kawahito, secretary general of the National Defense Counsel for Victims of karoshi, said the real number was probably 10 times higher, as the government is reluctant to recognize such incidents.

“The government hosts a lot of symposiums and makes posters about the problem, but this is propaganda,” he said.

“The real problem is reducing working hours, and the government is not doing enough.”

The labor ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Kawahito, a lawyer who has been dealing with karoshi since the 1980s, said 95 percent of his cases used to be middle-aged men in white-collar jobs, but now about 20 percent are women.

Japan has no legal limits on working hours, but the labor ministry recognizes two types of karoshi: death from cardiovascular illness linked to overwork, and suicide following work-related mental stress.

A cardiovascular death is likely to be considered karoshi if an employee worked 100 hours of overtime in the month beforehand, or 80 hours of overtime in two or more consecutive months in the previous six.

A suicide could qualify if it follows an individual’s working 160 hours or more of overtime in one month or more than 100 hours of overtime for three consecutive months.

Work-related suicides are up 45 percent in the past four years among those 29 and younger, and up 39 percent among women, labor ministry data show.

TWO-TIER WORKFORCE

The problem has become more acute as Japan’s workforce has divided into two distinct categories – regular employees, and those on temporary or non-standard contracts, frequently women and younger people.

In 2015 non-regular employees made up 38 percent of the workforce, up from 20 percent in 1990, and 68 percent of them were women.

Lawyers and academic say unscrupulous employers operate a “bait-and-switch” policy, advertising a full-time position with reasonable working hours, but later offering the successful applicant a non-regular contract with longer hours, sometimes overnight or weekends, with no overtime pay.

Refusing overtime pay and break time are illegal, and the applicant could refuse the job, but activists say companies tell them they will be given regular contracts after six months or so.

They say young applicants often accept due to lack of experience, while women trying to re-enter the workforce after childbirth often feel it would be difficult to get a foothold elsewhere.

Emiko Teranishi, head of the Families Dealing with Karoshi support group, said she hears lots of complaints about hiring tactics, with some companies telling new hires that their salary includes 80 hours of overtime, and they must reimburse the company if they work less.

“Some people don’t even make minimum wage under this system,” said Teranishi, whose own husband committed suicide after working long hours.

Such abuses have become so common in the past 10 years that such companies have been dubbed “black” companies in the media.

Hirokazu Ouchi, a professor at Chukyo University, wrote a book last year about such companies when he realized some of his students were being treated illegally at their part-time jobs.

Ouchi said their hiring practices typically follow a similar pattern.

“Companies will hire someone for two to three years, but they have no intention of investing the time or the money to nurture that employee,” said Ouchi.

He added that the labor ministry lacked the manpower to follow up on complaints.

A ministry official working in corporate surveillance acknowledged that his department was somewhat short-staffed but the government was taking steps to recruit more every year. He declined to give his name as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Japan’s working-age population has been falling since the mid-1990s, which would normally lead companies to improve working conditions to attract workers, but Ouchi said it was not happening because they can get away with bending the rules.

“This is a way for companies to keep labor costs down, but it is also a path that leads to death by overwork,” he said.

(This version of the story was refiled to correct typo in paragraph 16 to read employers)

(Editing by Will Waterman)

Canada sounds alarm over aboriginal teenage suicide epidemic

File photo of a tattered Canadian flag flying over a teepee in Attawapiskat Ontario

By Rod Nickel

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Canada’s parliament will meet in emergency session on Tuesday night over a rash of suicide attempts by aboriginal teenagers in a remote, poverty-stricken community whose people feel isolated from the rest of the world.

Over the past weekend alone, 11 people of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario tried to kill themselves, then a second group was brought to hospital Monday night after suicide attempts, prompting Chief Bruce Shisheesh to declare a state of emergency.

An 11-year-old child was in each of the groups treated over the past few days and the attempts follow a total of 28 attempted suicides in the month of March, some of them adults, health officials said.

The reasons for people trying to end their lives are varied but Attawapiskat leaders point to an underlying despondency and pessimism among their people as well as an increasing number of prescription drug overdoses since December.

Living in isolated communities with chronic unemployment and crowded housing, some young aboriginals lack clean water but have easy Internet access, giving them a glimpse of affluence in the rest of Canada.

“We feel isolated – we don’t feel part of the rest of the world,” said Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, who represents 30 aboriginal communities. “The basic needs are astronomical.”

Canada’s 1.4 million aboriginals, who make up about four percent of the population, have a lower life expectancy than other Canadians and are more often victims of violent crime. The problems plaguing aboriginals gained prominence in January when a gunman killed four people in La Loche, Saskatchewan.

Since December, Attawapiskat has seen a rash of prescription drug overdoses sending youth to hospital in “a fairly new phenomenon,” said Deborah Hill, vice-president of patient care at Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, whose region includes the community. Seven youth overdosed together on Saturday.

“An individual attempt at suicide is bad enough itself, but if there seems to be a group thing, it’s even more cause for alarm,” said National Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Assembly of First Nations, Canada’s main aboriginal political group.

In Attawapiskat, a community of 2,000 people located near a diamond mine, this weekend’s state of emergency was the fifth since 2006. The community has previously sounded the alarm over flooding and raw sewage issues, poor drinking water and a housing crisis.

Resident Jackie Hookimaw-Witt, whose teenage niece committed suicide last autumn, said it was the third attempt for one 13-year-old girl who survived on Saturday. She said the girl had been challenged to kill herself on social media.

The emergency parliamentary session was requested by New Democrat legislator Charlie Angus whose constituency includes Attawapiskat. Angus is demanding Ottawa do more “to end this cycle of crisis and death among young people”.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called this weekend’s suicide attempts “heartbreaking”, took power last year promising to tackle high levels of poverty, bad housing and poor health among aboriginal residents and promised a new “nation-to-nation relationship”.

Last month, Canada said it would spend an extra C$8.37 billion over five years to help the aboriginal population deal with dire living conditions.

(Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp and Ethan Lou in Toronto and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Amran Abocar and Grant McCool)

Two Individuals Exposed in Ashley Madison Hack Commit Suicide

Two individuals connected to the release of users of the adultery website Ashley Madison have taken their own lives.

Police in Toronto would not release the names of the individuals and would not release information other than their connection to the release of Ashley Madison info.

“This hack is one of the largest data breaches in the world,” Toronto Police acting staff-Supt. Bryce Evans said. “This is affecting all of us. The social impact behind this leak, we’re talking about families, we’re talking about children, we’re talking about wives, their male partners.”

The shocking news was actually predicted last week by a security analyst that first reported the hacking of Ashley Madison and the release of the names of those who paid to try and have an affair.

“There’s a very real chance that people are going to overreact. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw people taking their lives because of this, and obviously piling on with ridicule and trying to out people is not gonna help the situation,” analyst Brian Krebs said on Wednesday.

Another suicide has been potentially linked to the breach.  An employee of the city of San Antonio committed suicide Thursday, but officials would not confirm it was because of the leak.

The company that owns Ashley Madison is offering a $500,000 reward to anyone who will turn in the hackers that revealed their adultery seeking clientele.

Tennessee Considers Assisted Suicide

Tennessee lawmakers are considering the option of legalizing assisted suicide.

The state Senate Health Committee held a meeting on June 10th to consider a bill that would allow physician assisted suicide in the state.

Senate Bill 1362 was presented by Sen. Reginald Tate (D-Memphis) and House Bill 1040 by Rep. Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley).  The bill would allow doctors to prescribe a massive overdose of drugs for a person 18 years of age or older to end their life; the option for a patient to immediately die after receiving a diagnosis of “terminal” and even allowing health care providers to turn down more expensive life saving treatments when cheaper assisted suicide options are available.

“We think it’s humane to euthanize an animal when they get to the point they can’t take care of themselves. Why can’t we do the same for people?” asked Dr. Douglas Essinger.  “What about the patients rights to die with dignity? I think that should be the paramount issue here.”

Pro-life groups were vocal in their opposition.

“If doctor-prescribed suicide is legalized in Tennessee, it could become the only ‘medical treatment’ to which many people have equal access. If the government or insurance companies decide they no longer wish to pay for legitimate care and medical treatments, there will be a pressure upon the elderly, ill and disabled to end their lives. Being coerced into ending their lives does not offer death with dignity, it only offers a frightening and dangerous future for elderly and ill Tennesseans,” Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, said.

Connecticut Debates Physician Assisted Suicide

A new proposal in the Connecticut legislature would legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state.

A public hearing was held last week to debate the matter.  One of the pro-death speakers was Rep. Kelly Luxenberg (D-Manchester) whose father committed suicide by drowning himself after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.

“He never learned to swim and was intensely fearful of the water. So there is an even sadder irony in the way in which he chose to die,” she told the Judiciary Committee and those gathered. “Parkinson’s stripped my father of a life with dignity. Wouldn’t it have been great if in death his dignity could have been regained?”

Pro-life speakers also had their say before the Committee.

“People with disabilities, advocates against elder abuse are rightly concerned that the ‘right to die’ could become a ‘duty to die,’” Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut told those gathered.

“Is it acceptable for someone’s life to be shortened because people may be actually on a wrong prognosis, or because they have been pressed to make this final move?” asked Cathy Ludlum of Second Thoughts Connecticut, who is disabled.

The bill would allow a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to the patient who would then ingest it on their own to end their life after submitting two requests to a physician and having two witnesses unrelated to the patient review the case and be present for the administration of the procedure.

ISIS Burying Children Alive According To UN Report

The first report since 1998 from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child is showing the horrors of ISIS upon religious minorities.

The report, written by 18 independent experts, shows that ISIS is using children with mental illnesses as suicide bombers.  The children are unable to understand that they will die as a result of what they’re doing, and because of their autism and other illnesses they believe they are just being “good kids.”

“We have had reports of children, especially children who are mentally challenged, who have been used as suicide bombers, most probably without them even understanding,” Committee expert Renate Winter said. “There was a video placed [online] that showed children at a very young age, approximately eight years of age and younger, to be trained already to become child soldiers.”

The group has also targeted the children of Christians for crucifixions and live burial.  The children would sometimes be thrown into open graves that contain the bodies of their parents and buried.

In addition to the active murders of children, ISIS is also locking children inside homes where they die of starvation or thirst.  Children are also sold in markets next to fruit and vegetables.

The report outlines the selling of young girls as sex slaves.

Canadian Supreme Court Considering Euthanasia

The Canadian Supreme Court is preparing to rule on the country’s ban on assisted suicide.

“Every one who … aids or abets a person to commit suicide, whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years,” states the Criminal Code of Canada.

The court is looking at the appeal of a ruling form the British Columbia Court of Appeals which overruled a lower court ruling approving euthanasia.  A woman suffering from ALS who has died since the filing of the suit, claimed that denying her the right to have someone assist her in dying violated her rights and discriminates against the disabled.

“If the Supreme Court strikes down our laws against assisted suicide/euthanasia, then it will be up to parliament to come up with a new law,” said MP Maurice Vellacott. “If the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down Canada’s current laws on euthanasia or assisted suicide, then CPSO’s policy would mean Ontario’s physicians would have a ‘duty to refer’ patients for treatments intended to kill the patient.”

Two Canadian senators have introduced a bill that would remove any criminal penalties to doctors who help a patient end their lives.  The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has also crafted a policy that would require doctors to participate in the process regardless of their personal beliefs.

“New Doctor Death” Loses Medical License

A man who has been called the “new Doctor Death” for following in the footsteps of Dr. Jack Kevorikian has been stripped of his medical license in Maryland.

Dr. Lawrence Egbert has been connected to the suicide deaths of six elderly Marylanders.

“It is undisputed that Dr. Egbert participated in six suicides in the state of Maryland as either a Senior Exit Guide or as a members only exit guide,” the Maryland Board of Physicians wrote in their revocation of Egbert’s license.

“Dr. Egbert reviewed their applications and medical records and recommended accepting them as members,” the board wrote. “Dr. Egbert attended their suicide rehearsals. He held each member’s hand and talked to him or her.”

Egbert, who law enforcement officials say is connected to over 300 deaths across the nation, is currently awaiting trial in Minnesota for helping residents there end their lives.  He had previously been arrested in Georgia but charges were not filed.

Egbert says he will appeal the decision and claims that assisted suicide is “in the Bible as legitimate.”

Assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont and New Mexico.

Christian Cancer Patient Write Pro-Life Plea

A Christian woman who is dying of cancer is writing a pro-life plea to counter the massive amount of publicity being given to the woman in Oregon who announced the day of her death by suicide.

Brittany Maynard has been gaining attention on major news networks because she plans to kill herself rather than live through the final stages of brain cancer.  Many right-to-die media outlets have been airing her story, calling for assisted suicide to be allowed across the nation.

However Kara Tippetts, a Christian woman who is dying from cancer, is challenging Maynard’s claims and calling on her to realize the value of her life even if she has a terminal disease.

“Brittany, I love you, and I’m sorry you are dying. I am sorry that we are both being asked to walk a road that feels simply impossible to walk,” Tippetts wrote. “[But] in your choosing your own death, you are robbing those that love you with the such tenderness, the opportunity of meeting you in your last moments and extending you love in your last breaths. … That last kiss, that last warm touch, that last breath, matters—but it was never intended for us to decide when that last breath is breathed.”

Tippetts pleads with Maynard not to take an overdose of drugs on November 1st.

“Knowing Jesus, knowing that He understands my hard goodbye, He walks with me in my dying,” she explains. “My heart longs for you to know Him in your dying. Because in His dying, He protected my living. My living beyond this place.”

Switzerland Assisted Suicide Rate For Foreigners Doubles

A new study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics shows that the number of foreigners traveling to Switzerland to kill themselves has doubled in a four year period.

According to the study, 172 foreigners traveled to the country to end their lives in 2012 compared to 2009’s total of 86.  Citizens of Germany and Great Britain make up the majority, over two-thirds of the total.

Switzerland has very liberal assisted suicide laws.  The only requirement is that whoever assists in the death has no direct interest in the ending of the life, such as being in the victim’s will.

The rise of foreigners entering the country to end their lives raised enough concern among residents that in 2011 a ban on the practice was placed on the ballot but voted down.

People from 31 nations came to Switzerland to die.  The median age of the victims was 69.

France and Italy saw large rises in the number of citizens who traveled to Switzerland to die.