tecoyah

What a pisser/coincidence/tragedy. I would definately place the patient on suicide watch.

Husband Commits Suicide, Then Wife Wakes from Coma
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Jan 22, 6:08 AM (ET)

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian pensioner committed suicide after his wife fell into a coma, but just hours after he killed himself the woman woke up, Italian media reported on Saturday.

Recalling the end of "Romeo and Juliet," the 70-year-old man, Ettore, who had sat by his wife's bedside for four months after she slipped into a coma following a heart attack, finally gave up hope and gassed himself in the garage of his family home.

Less than a day later, his wife, Rossana, woke up in her hospital bed in Padua and immediately asked for him.

The northern town of Padua lies just 40 miles from Verona, where star-crossed lover Romeo killed himself believing Juliet to have died. But minutes later Juliet woke up and seeing Romeo dead, stabbed herself.


http://reuters.myway.com//article/20...Y-COMA-DC.html

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Roark

Man that's terrible...

f6twister

Just another reason I don't believe in suicide. I agree, a suicide watch on the wife would be a good idea. Very sad story.

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skier

Suicide is a coward's way out. I believe that only when you are free from all the responsibilities in your life can you end it prematurely if you so desire.

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Stare At The Sun

I feel sorry for the husband...but really really sorry for the wife. Imagine what she must be going through, and will go through till she dies..

Halx

Where's a happy dagger when you need it?

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yellowchef

we've run out..

Wow, thats some wicked stuff there. I agree that suicide is greedy.. and even more creepy is that his wife did wake one day later....

StanT

I'd say a 70 year old guy with no children and a wife in a coma qualifies.


My parents are in their upper 70's and have been married over 50 years. While both are in reasonable health, they are completely codependant. I do not expect either of them to outlive the other by more than a year. It won't be (intentional) suicide, it will be a complete lack of desire to live.

Soggybagel

I concur with StanT. I think he felt that it was over and its truely tragic, but who am I to say what I would or would not do in his situation.

Powderedmaggot

Bummer. Now he'll be civil servant in the afterlife.

skier

I never said he didn't qualify. Though on reflection my statement definetly implies it. Sorry about that, I was just remarking on suicide in general.

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yabobo

I think the wife was playing possum!
He was probably sitting at her bedside day after day
boring this women to tears.Then just when she couldn't stand it
anymore he started to tell her how he was going to axe himself first so he
could meet her at the gates of heaven. So,she kept her eyes closed
and when the nurses started talking about poor Mr. she new she was free
and opened her eyes!

Now that would be sick..

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wolf

Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to my love!

Drinks

O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.

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ironman

She still gets to collect his life insurance, does she?

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Bill O'Rights

Beetlejuice reference?

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Grasshopper Green

My brother committed suicide. I guess he didn't really have "responsibilities"; no wife and kids to worry about, but he still had family that loved him. I guess he did it because he was tired of suffering. I would never presume to judge someone for committing suicide; you can never truly know until you walk in someone's shoes.

This story is just sad all around. That woman will probably feel guilty for the rest of her life.

Coppertop

The first thing I thought about when reading this was that there was some sort of conservation of consciousness in place here.

Sick, I know.

And how exactly is suicide greedy? That boggles me.

skier

I guess i'm just a judgemental sort of guy. I assess things and in that process I make a judgement on what I think is the correct course of action(s). It's open to change, but I will always attempt to have a strong idea of what is "right" and "wrong" so that if I find myself in a difficult or ambiguous situation I can better deal with it in my mind.

Attempting to sort out my position on suicide is difficult right now because of the ambiguous nature of "responsiblity". I could say you have a responsibility to your own person in staying alive, but that would eliminate all possibility of a correct form of suicide, which I believe is something that can be "right" in certain situations.
I could also say that the only responsibility a person has is to themselves, and if they decided on commiting suicide, we have no right to stop them. However, I could not bring myself to stand by and watch my best friend who I care for very much and depend on kill himself.

My final conclusion that I came to is that... when a person commits suicide, they cut all ties in their lives. I'll take up the analogy of interconnected webs. A person is like a ball in the center of a web, which is made up of strands. Each strand connects to other people. The strands vary in thickness/strength, depending on how much other people depend on the person (love, economic security, stability etc.)

Someone who commits suicide has the belief (mistaken or not) that these strands are very weak, or nonexistent, and that it is a struggle to keep their ball supported by their web. They give up trying, and let it fall. I feel this moment, where they give up on their remaining responsibilities and stop struggling to connect to new webs, is COWARDLY. They took the easy way out. Life is just too damn hard, so let's just give up and die already.

The other problem is the slack in the other webs that is created when a person lets their ball fall through. Their strands are broken, and with nothing supporting them, wherever another person depends on the person, it just made life that much more difficult for them. It is SELFISH to pass your burdens onto another. Those people that loved and cared for you just lost stability in their webs, because you let the ball drop. It also causes strain on the other strands as they pick up your slack.

That said, I do still feel there are legimate times when suicide could be an appropriate action, if you should choose to do so. At the end of life, when you have fufilled many obligations and responsibilities, and lived a long life full of experience. People still care for you, but there is very little dependance on your life, mostly because since you are aged and people have prepared for the possibility of your death.

Another is when death is certain (in the close future, eg. terminal cancer) and your quality of life is reduced to the point where you can no longer enjoy it, in addition to the anticipated pain and suffering before your end.
A third although unlikely possibility is through self-sacrifice, saving many lives with your own. Taking your own life to save other ones isn't really suicide though, is it? I guess it's called self-sacrifice for a reason.

Am I right or wrong? I'm don't think i'll ever be sure, and my position will change over time as I get new information and insight into an issue like this.

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Grasshopper Green

My brother was schizophrenic, and although fairly healthy in any other sense, his quality of life was definitely diminished. He was functional; he had a job, medical care when he accepted it, and a place to live (with us). He had a lot of friends and a lust for playing the guitar. He still chose to end his life; I can't fully understand why but I will never bear him ill will for it. I suppose that's what makes the world go 'round, different perspectives.

Amnesia620

Diplomatic, well thought out and fair, Medusa. I wish more people, like yourself - and tecoyah (balanced thoughts and judgements) would think this way...thank you.

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ziadel

For Never Was there a Tale of More woe. Than that of Juliet and her Romeo.

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Seeker

I'm here too... my brother was bi-polar though not diagnosed... I cried for him when he was alive - for his suffering, when he died I felt he could finally be at peace.

As for this situation - timing is amazingly spooky... hmmmmm... though I can't see that the wife should feel guilty? I'm sure she didn't mean to drift off into a coma. I hope she at least feels some comfort knowing the extent to which he felt for her

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TexanAvenger

Yet another tragic incidence of life imitating art...

I feel for the wife, and hope that, whatever she chooses in way of living, she can find peace in this world that she's suddenly been born into without her loved one here to guide her.

Seer666

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! If ever you need proff that we were put here to be a soap opera for God. That is so sad it's funny.

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bernadette

suicide is almost always impossible to understand, but while this particular case is tres sad, it seems a bit romantic, albeit tragic.

if i were that woman & it was my husband, gah..... at that age... ugh, i <i>might</i> be tempted to follow his footsteps... omigosh. such a sad story. poor woman.

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kramus

In the business world there are executives who make decisions we wouldn't, but because they are executive decision makers they get the big bucks - they get paid because of the value and burden that are put on them by their position. Sports teams have coaches and managers that make hard decisions that are theirs to make. I guess what I'm saying is, the final executive decision is the suicides. They have the ultimate responsibility for themselves, and they understand perhaps more than anybody else just what is at stake. If there is a way they can do it less selfishly that is a sensitive consideration in a stressful time.

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thalakos315

there really isn't anything easy about suicide, believe me. as human beings we are born with a knack for self preservation. knowingly choosing to end your own life goes against the very fabric of who we are as human beings.
no sir, there isn't anything simple and easy about that. as for the reasons, i do believe that there have been, and always will be, people who do this for seemingly stupid reasons.
my best friend shot himself in october of 98. we, his close friends, saw that he simply didn't find any enjoyment in life anymore. there were no stupid reasons, only ones we couldn't understand. would this be considered the easy way out?
i myself, am bi-polar, and i'm not ashamed to admit that i've thought about doing the same on many occasions, for quite similar reasons. i'd like to think that if ever decided to follow through with it, that i wouldn't be remembered as the guy who took the easy way out.

i do believe that there are occasions where i find myself agreeing that a person's suicide isn't justifiable. in these cases there is usually an imbalance within the person, or other reasons nobody is aware of. i myself don't agree with the apparent wide spread belief that suicide is in anyway, an easy way out. i will however, concede that a suicide may not always seem justifiable to everyone else.
in the case above, i can understand and sympathize with the man. however i'm pretty sure that i wouldn't follow suit. ending your own life, because of the loss of another, to me just doesn't make sense. you wouldn't want them to kill themselves if you were lost to them. so why should you do it yourself. i do think that in this case it was a little selfish (if that was his only reason for doing what he did)

i can only imagine what the wife is going through, and what something like this would do to her mental/emotional stability. even though none of this was through any fault of her own, i'd be willing to bet money that she is experiencing a level of a guilt we can only imagine. she is goign to need some serious support from those close to her to be able to maintain some semblence of a normal existance.. i can't imagine having to be in that position.