Venting "nonfatal self-harm cost the nation nearly $490 billion in medical costs, work loss costs, value of statistical life, and quality of life costs"

[playing_ostrich]

Read an article about suicide (https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html)

Don't know why but that fact (the title of this post) rubbed me the wrong way. Like REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. It seems to me people don't give a shit about each other. ONLY if a person benefits them or they share some kind of bond. otherwise, you are worthless to them. I'm tired of this cringe suicide prevention virtue signaling shit. If you don't care about suicidal people ok fine. BUT DONT PRETEND YOU DO WHEN YOU DONT.

 

[Judy Garland]

How does it cost the nation 490 billion. Maybe they should stop rescuing us and bringing us back to life. Duh. We don't cost them, they cost themselves.

 

[may13]

The key to that analysis is "medical costs and work loss costs".

Tell me you support the commodification of human worth without telling me you support the commodification of human worth, as it were.

 

[Smart No More]

Everything is open to interpretation. Often there is bias in the eyes of the beholder.

 

[Riddle]

Yea I agree with Smart, like it or not we have to measure the impact of things. There are limited resources in the world, limited tax revenue, how else will we know where to focus our efforts that will help the most people efficiently.

The stat I found shocking is 1.2 million people attempted in 2020 and there was only 46k deaths. That is 4%, and likely not all attempts are reported. Glad I have N

 

[Smart No More]

Yea I agree with Smart, like it or not we have to measure the impact of things. There are limited resources in the world, limited tax revenue, how else will we know where to focus our efforts that will help the most people efficiently.

The stat I found shocking is 1.2 million people attempted in 2020 and there was only 46k deaths. That is 4%, and likely not all attempts are reported. Glad I have N

I was really just saying that stats are often not statistical. They're presented with bias and the resulting interpretation/manipulation to suit it. History is written by victors and stats are written with vested interests. Objectivity is possibly our rearest and most valuable untapped resource. The emperor has no clothes on.

 

[Riddle]

I was really just saying that stat are often not statistical. They're presented with bias and the resulting interpretation/manipulation to suit it. History is written by victors and stats are written with vested interests. Objectivity is possibly our rearest and most valuable untapped resource. The emperor has no clothes on.

This is true, you can often find stats to support any narrative. Sorry I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth, I meant to agree and then add my own point.

But, yea whoever calculated that 490 billion number might have wanted that number to look as big as possible by using aggressive estimates to support the case that suicide is a public health problem. So for OP, they may have included it in order to bring attention to suicide which seems like a good thing

 

[depressedexwriter]

Yea I agree with Smart, like it or not we have to measure the impact of things. There are limited resources in the world, limited tax revenue, how else will we know where to focus our efforts that will help the most people efficiently.

I'm afraid that 'helping people most efficiently' is nowhere near the top of the US government's priorities. That's why they give tens of billions to Ukraine while people here lose their shirts to inflation and skyrocketing rents, but whenever the question of giving money or benefits to people comes up here they quibble for months + everyone screams 'BUT HOW WILL YOU PAY FOR IT?!?!?'

This thread reminds me of a joke: My manager attending my funeral, crying hysterically, says, "How could he do this when he knew we needed coverage this week?'

 

[Shu]

They never mentioned how much they make off pharmaceuticals alone and hos many of those people were taking them or have been taking them before.