Suicide

For some reason, it seemed the depressives of London all decided to pick the same weekend to attempt to end it all. Even the nurses answering the blue call phones at the hospital commented on the number of overdoses and slit wrists that were coming in. There was one call that stood out, though. A woman in her thirties. Her husband had just walked out, leaving her with a selection of children between four and twenty-one. Beside herself, she couldn’t go on. Then and there, in the presence of her kids, she’d decided to commit suicide. You may ask yourself what sort of person would kill themselves in front of her children, but if you want proof that the balance of her mind was disturbed, look no further than the method she used to die.

She drank hydrochloric acid.

If you’re not familiar with hydrochloric acid, it’s an pungent, fuming corrosive that will burn through almost anything it comes into contact with. It is highly reactive and dangerous. Just inhaling it can be fatal because of the damage it will cause to your lungs. It is used for removing rust from metals, unblocking drains and in oil production for dissolving rock. The acid burned through one of the paramedics’ gloves and ruined the ambulance’s blanket. It took nearly an hour for the crew to clean up the vehicle afterwards.

The patient’s children tried to help her and in doing so, got the chemical on their bodies, causing some nasty burns, so the crew took them in too. A blue call was placed, and the patient was semiconscious and breathing at the time, but as the crew told me later, they didn’t think she could possibly survive. That acid would eat her up from the inside out.

On the way to the hospital, the patient’s ten year old son told the paramedic that as soon as he was back from the hospital, he was going to kill himself too.

On the whole, not the most cheerful of calls.

Source: Suicide