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Woman suffers life-threatening injuries in plunge off overpass onto turnpike near BU Bridge
By adamg on Thu, 08/05/2021 - 9:10pm
State Police report a woman jumped off the Carlton Street overpass onto the outbound turnpike around 6:05 p.m.
Troopers and other first responders rushed to the scene and undertook emergency medical aid in an attempt to save her life. She sustained serious life-threatening injuries and has been transported to Tufts Medical Center.
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Help is available
A further MSP update gave indication this was an attempt to end one's life. At the time of that update, she was alive but seriously injured. I can only hope that she recovers and is able to receive the help she needs and deserves.
If you are thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255), or text the Crisis Help Line, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential.
@adamg might be an idea to
@adamg might be an idea to put these numbers, and/or other numbers to suicide hotlines, in a header on posts related to suicide. I've seen some other websites that do so.
I would like Adam to do this.
I would like Adam to do this.
There is much guidance available now on how to best report on suicide, which we should not shy away from reporting on when it is newsworthy, but we should be deliberate in how we report on it.
https://reportingonsuicide.org/
That's an interesting list.
That's an interesting list.
Most of the items seem pretty good, but there are a couple of the "avoid"/"instead" bullet points that I would want to hear better explanations of.
- "increase" or "rise" are bad matches and bad alternatives to saying "epidemic". I can see how "epidemic" may be a bad presentation, but suicide might be unconscionably high in a population whether rates are actually rising or falling at the moment.
- "avoid prominent news placement", instead "put inside or later"... I can see about not wanting to encourage attention-seeking displays (especially those in prominently public spots that might endanger more bystanders), but it comes disturbingly close to hushing things up. Putting a stigma on thoroughly discussing/reporting suicide can interfere with helping the survivors and helping those with similar problems.
Thoughts with woman and the drivers who saw this
My thoughts are with this woman, her family, and also the drivers who saw what must have been a horrifying and frightening sight especially if they were potentially in her path. Suicide by highway can injure or kill others - when I was younger I knew someone who tried to end his life by stepping in front of a car, which caused the driver to crash and be killed.
Not only death or physical
Not only death or physical injury, but also traumatic for those who witness it, are made the involuntary instruments of it, or have to clean up after it.
I can't imagine the horror
of being the person that was driving the vehicle that she may have landed on. My cousin did a similar thing when he parked his car on the highway in the breakdown lane, and then waited for a semi truck to come by and then stepped in front of it. I would be traumatized for years.