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To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (136195)	7/24/2008 1:36:33 PM
From: Travis_Bickle	Respond to of 306849

A lot of people think they don't pay out on suicides but usually the contract provides they do if the policy has been in effect at least two years.

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (136195)	7/24/2008 1:39:07 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 306849

We'll come out of this one ok, because we've got Eli on our side They've got something to keep everybody perky. -- Sales of Lilly's antidepressant Cymbalta shot up 26% to $654.4 million. Cialis, Lilly's erectile dysfunction medication, saw sales climb 24% to $362 million. -- Japan's suicide epidemic tied to economy BY PAUL WISEMAN • USA TODAY • July 24, 2008 TOKYO -- A deadly suicide fad is sweeping Japan: Hundreds of Japanese have killed themselves this year by mixing ordinary household chemicals into a lethal cloud of poison gas that often injures others and forces the evacuation of entire apartment blocks. Advertisement The 517 self-inflicted deaths by hydrogen sulfide poisoning this year are part of a bigger, grimmer story: Nearly 34,000 Japanese killed themselves last year, according to the Japanese national police. That's the second-highest toll ever in a country where the suicide rate is ninth highest in the world and more than double that of the United States, the World Health Organization says. Japan has long been known as a "nation of suicide," notes sociologist Kayoko Ueno at the University of Tokushima. Samurai warriors famously chose seppuku -- disemboweling themselves -- over surrender. Japanese kamikaze pilots crashed their planes into targets during World War II. "Suicide is not considered a sin," said sociologist Masahiro Yamada of Chuo University in Tokyo. "We've made it a bit of a virtue." Authorities are alarmed now that suicide has reached epidemic levels. Reasons: • A decade of weak economic growth and the unraveling of Japan's system of lifetime employment have left many middle-age and elderly men unemployed and in financial ruin. Among Japanese suicides, nearly 71% are men, more than 73% are 40 or older, and more than 57% are jobless. For an unemployed former salaryman, suicide can be "a rational decision," Yamada said. When a man commits suicide in Japan, his beneficiaries still can collect his life insurance. And insurers pay off Japanese home mortgages when a family's breadwinner dies -- even if the death is a suicide. "If he dies, the rest of the family gets money," Yamada said. "If he continues to live without a job, they will lose the house." • The Internet has allowed young, depressed Japanese to get suicide tips and find others with whom they can enter into death pacts. A few years ago, suicidal Japanese were meeting each other online, driving out into the countryside, shutting themselves up in the back of vans and killing themselves in clouds of carbon monoxide by burning charcoal briquettes. "People really want to be connected. People got together to die," said antisuicide activist Koji Tsukino, 43. Tsukino, a recovering alcoholic and drug user who tried to kill himself 10 times before he turned 30, says the latest suicide craze is scarier than those in the past. Hydrogen sulfide is dangerous even to those who don't want to kill themselves. The toxic gas can carry into neighboring buildings and apartments. In April, 80 people were injured and another 120 had to be evacuated after a 14-year-old girl killed herself with hydrogen sulfide in southern Japan's Kochi prefecture. She' had left a note on the door of her family's apartment, saying "Gas being emitted. Don't open," according to the Kyodo news service. Police have asked Internet service providers to ban Web sites that promote suicide, but with mixed success. "If just one person decided not to do it, that would be great," Tsukino said.