Parents susceptible to suicide after child’s death
Parents of a sick child who dies at home are at increased risk of committing suicide, according to a report in the British Medical Journal. Access to the child’s potent pain medication after the death may provide an easy avenue for self-harm.
Dr. Dawn E. Davies, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, describes two cases that illustrate the potential risks for parents.
The first case was an infant born with a tumor of the face who was treated at home with morphine to control pain and with a sedative for symptoms of respiratory distress. He died the day before his first birthday.
Chinese AIDS activists call for release of colleague
Chinese AIDS activists on Friday called for the release of fellow rights worker Hu Jia, who vanished a month ago, while his wife said she still had no idea where he was and was becoming increasingly worried.
The 32-year-old Hu went missing after going on hunger strike with several others to protest what they said was the government’s hiring of thugs to beat up a civil rights campaigner.
His wife, Zeng Jinyan, told Reuters that she had been to the prosecutor’s office to try and lodge a complaint that the police were holding her husband illegally.
