# Best way to commit suicide and preserve organs for donation? (do not need answer fast, heh) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 24, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855 "2011-03-24T16:34:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/1 "2011-03-24T16:34:34Z")
I know the thread title is creepy. I assure all of you that I am not suicidal and this question is not applicable to any real situation as far as I am aware. It’s just idle curiosity. But say that someone who was young and healthy DID want to commit suicide, while preserving as many possible organs for donation. Where should they do it, and what method should be used? I was thinking maybe a (relatively) benign drug overdose with a note stapled to their coat, timed so they drop dead right outside of a major hospital would be good, but then there’s always the possibility of having a stomach pump or being resuscitated. Or could they call someone like Dr. Kevorkian with this type of request? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/2 "2011-03-24T16:39:19Z")
I’m pretty sure the drugs will render the organs unfit for transplant. Any drug that can kill you is not benign. ER lobby-gunshot to the head. Use a suppressor so you don’t disturb others. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/3 "2011-03-24T16:43:07Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I’m pretty sure the drugs will render the organs unfit for transplant. Any drug that can kill you is not benign. > > ER lobby-gunshot to the head. Use a suppressor so you don’t disturb others. But couldn’t that damage the eyes/optic nerve? I was thinking more like a morphine overdose, though I don’t know the precise side effects… would that make the liver untransplantable? I’m guessing a coke overdose would kill your heart. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/4 "2011-03-24T16:43:40Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > ER lobby-gunshot to the head. Use a suppressor so you don’t disturb others. As if the sight of someone shooting themself in the head was not disturbing enough 😛 Self-guillotining would be slightly better–it would preserve the corneas, too. Geez, that’s morbid, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/5 "2011-03-24T17:12:05Z")
Gunshot would probably provide the cleanest death but any delay in finding the body would put most organs past their Use By date. Best bet: A gunshot wound that would render the shooter/shootee brain dead & on life support with no hope of recovery. \*\* If\*\* his wish to donate organs had been recorded and/or communicated to his next-of-kin, the plug could be pulled & the various bits distributed. Unless there are medico/legal problems about organs from suicides. Perhaps we’ll hear from somebody who’s worked in the field. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/6 "2011-03-24T17:27:34Z")
There’s a movie about the subject but If I name it before you watch it the plot is spoiled. Seven Pounds ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/7 "2011-03-24T17:37:05Z")
Do you need spoiler tags for TV episodes that aired years ago? Can’t hurt I guess [SPOILER]Actually I remember an ER episode where a father shot himself in the head so that his one remaining kidney would be donated to his daughter. The story was that he had already donated one kidney to her, but a drug trial botched that up. [http://www.playandwatch.net/play-295211-ER-Season-11-Episode-12-The-Providers-.html](http://www.playandwatch.net/play-295211-ER-Season-11-Episode-12-The-Providers-.html) His suicide is not in the summary ^^. Obviously it was a few years ago so I could be fuzzy on the storyline. But, if you trust my memory, and ER writers for scientific accuracy, then there’s one point for gunshot to the head. IIRC she did get the kidney. [/SPOILER] ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/8 "2011-03-24T17:37:14Z")
There was a House MD episode where that was actually a plot element: > **[House (season 3)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Coma_Guy)** > > The third season of House (also called House, M.D.) aired on FOX from September 5, 2006 to May 29, 2007. Early in the season, House temporarily regains the use of his leg due to ketamine treatment after he was shot in the season two finale. Later in the season, he leaves a stubborn patient in an exam room with a thermometer in his rectum. Because House is unwilling to apologize, the patient, who turns out to be a police detective, starts an investigation around House's Vicodin addicti David Morse... I don’t recall what the methods actually were (or if they even showed that bit). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/9 "2011-03-24T17:46:23Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > But couldn’t that damage the eyes/optic nerve? I know they transplant corneas (which should be undamaged by a well-aimed gunshot to the soft palate), but are entire eyeballs being transplanted nowadays? If they are, well, just aim a little lower, shoot out the brain stem/top of the neck. Whatever you do, it needs to be near a hospital so they can recover your body pronto and put it on life support, but it also needs to do irreversible, fatal damage to undonatable parts of your body. I can’t think of many things other than a gun in the mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/10 "2011-03-24T17:56:01Z")
Why not find a hospital with a handy walk-in freezer? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/11 "2011-03-24T18:07:16Z")
Freezing tissue renders it unusable for transplant. And no, they’re not transplanting whole eyes, only corneas. I think if you’re going to wreck one organ, that would be the one to give up. No one dies on the waiting list for a corneal transplant from corneal-related issues. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/12 "2011-03-24T18:20:59Z")
Good call on the corneas. I didn’t know that was the only donatable portion of the eye. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/13 "2011-03-24T18:42:29Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > ER lobby-gunshot to the head. Use a suppressor so you don’t disturb others. And for God’s sake take a minute to tie a plastic bag over your head first. Somebody has to clean up the mess you leave. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/14 "2011-03-24T18:47:37Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > And for God’s sake take a minute to tie a plastic bag over your head first. > > Somebody has to clean up the mess you leave. “Cleanup on aisle five” is a small price to pay for a whole body’s worth of donated organs. That said, you’re right, there’s no reason _not_ to try to control the mess, unless it slows the whole suicide process down so much that bystanders have a chance to intervene before you complete your work. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/15 "2011-03-24T19:04:39Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > And for God’s sake take a minute to tie a plastic bag over your head first. > > Somebody has to clean up the mess you leave. To quote [Vinnie Antonelli](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100212/quotes):“Richie loved to use 22s because the bullets are small and they don’t come out the other end like a 45, see, a 45 will blow a barn door out the back of your head and there’s a lot of dry cleaning involved, but a 22 will just rattle around like Pac-Man until you’re dead.” ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/16 "2011-03-24T19:10:47Z")
I like the Self-guillotining, in fact if I’m getting to choose that’s what I’m going for, but it’s a bit hard to pull off in public. I’d think strangulation would probably be the best but again it’s tough to time it so you die where you can be harvested but they can’t save you. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/17 "2011-03-24T19:11:47Z")
What about cutting your own throat? That’d preserve the corneas that might be destroyed or rendered unusable by a gunshot to the head, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/18 "2011-03-24T19:16:20Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > What about cutting your own throat? That’d preserve the corneas that might be destroyed or rendered unusable by a gunshot to the head, wouldn’t it? Yeah, but if you do it in the ER lobby (or just outside) you might be saved before you lost too much blood. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/19 "2011-03-24T19:22:23Z")
It can take several hours for an organ procurement team to do their assessment of qualification and get consent for donation from the family during which time the patient must still have perfusion of the organs. This typically means brain death but otherwise still alive on life support. So any method which actually kills you outright (decapitation) or kills you where there isn’t medical help available (drug overdose at home) is not going to work. Nonfatal gun shot wound to head in close proximity to emergency treatment is probably the best bet. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855/20 "2011-03-24T19:25:41Z")
Colonel Mustard, with a plastic bag over his head, in the ER’s parking lot. Bonus points for locking the door and placing a weight on the car horn so people will find you quickly, but can’t stop you in time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-commit-suicide-and-preserve-organs-for-donation-do-not-need-answer-fast-heh/575855.md?page=2)