# Gun based suicide Temple vs Mouth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605 "2012-08-15T20:57:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/81 "2013-10-22T14:02:24Z")
I’m thinking power saw of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/82 "2013-10-22T14:42:01Z")
Well, I for one am not shooting myself until y’all have reached a consensus on this matter. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/83 "2013-10-22T18:55:58Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > … > Regarding suicide, I don’t think it matters. If you want to bad enough you’ll find a way. The best lay survey of the act and its mental milieu (you know what I mean) I’ve found is [Kay Redfield Jamison (Author)"]Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide](Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide [Paperback), by Kay Redfield Jamison, a leading scholar of bipolar disease and herself a suicide survivor. Her introduction, I remember, has a bizarre congerie of recorded suicide methods… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/84 "2013-10-22T19:59:30Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > [Kay Redfield Jamison (Author)"]Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide](Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide [Paperback), by Kay Redfield Jamison, a leading scholar of bipolar disease and herself a suicide survivor. Can you be a suicide survivor? Wouldn’t that be attempted-suicide survivor? Along those lines, if you try to commit suicide because you feel like a failure and you don’t succeed, wouldn’t that make it worse? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/85 "2013-10-22T20:11:36Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > I doubt there is a factual answer, but here is what I’ve heard. I’ve been told that a temple shot is better for suicide as it is more foolproof. Gun in the mouth is more likely to not kill you or not kill you _right away_. Miss the brain and you’re in for a whole lot of distress. > > (1) Don’t shoot yourself – at all. > (2) If you must, don’t shoot yourself in the mouth! This. I’ve cared for a number of attempted suicides who used the mouth approach. All they did was blow off their faces. All of them lived. All of themhad years of reconstructive surgeries, but still scared small children. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/86 "2013-10-22T20:15:15Z")
I have only one anecdotal data point. A high school friend who seemed a bit crazy (but less crazy than some others) said he’d shot himself in the mouth. I didn’t believe him, so he showed me the (very impressive) scar on the top of his head. He offered to show me the scar in his mouth, but I declined. (Evidently it was still visible despite corrective surgery.) He didn’t show up at school the following year. The rumor was that he’d boarded a plane with a pistol, flashing his fake but realistic looking police badge (which he’d also shown us). Evidently he got in trouble for that, even back in say 1974. The only other suicide I knew personally was my wife’s sister’s husband, who got all his stuff in order and went to a construction site with a shotgun. Evidently he didn’t want his wife to find the body. Such a shame; he was a guy that everyone liked. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/87 "2013-10-22T20:19:48Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Can you be a suicide survivor? Wouldn’t that be attempted-suicide survivor? > Along those lines, if you try to commit suicide because you feel like a failure and you don’t succeed, wouldn’t that make it worse? Yes and yes. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/88 "2013-10-22T21:03:04Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > So there was a permanent reduction in suicides when they stopped using coal gas (which kills via carbon monoxide) in ovens and started using natural gas. I’m having trouble findings statistics, but I’m not sure that’s 100% accurate. Coal gas was replaced by natural gas just after WWII. The suicide rate had spiked in the decade or so prior to natural gas’s use. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/89 "2013-10-23T02:09:27Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Well, I for one am not shooting myself until y’all have reached a consensus on this matter. In the heart, center of chest, on the same level as your nipples, so that your other organs can be salvaged for transplant. Guaranteed, 100% effective. I’m not trying to be morbid or anything, but if you’re deadset (no pun intended) on committing suicide… **Please sign the back of your Drivers license agreeing to be an organ donor** before proceeding, and it would also be helpful if you do it right outside of the emergency entrance of your local hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/90 "2013-10-23T15:48:59Z")
No, no, I’m holding off until everyone in this thread comes to an agreement. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/91 "2013-10-23T18:11:15Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > No, no, I’m holding off until everyone in this thread comes to an agreement. 😃 :p;) ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/92 "2013-10-24T02:22:00Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > No, no, I’m holding off until everyone in this thread comes to an agreement. 😃 In the spirit of consensus-building, stand six to 10 feet from the front of a 32-pounder loaded with chain shot, while holding a very long wooden match. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/93 "2013-10-24T02:54:56Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > No, no, I’m holding off until everyone in this thread comes to an agreement. 😃 Jump from more than 12 stories high onto concrete, head first. Shoot yourself in the head while falling. Mouth or temple doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/94 "2013-10-24T10:32:50Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > …if you try to commit suicide because you feel like a failure and you don’t succeed, wouldn’t that make it worse? Yes. According to Frank Zappa you would be a [Suicide Chump](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/frankzappa/suicidechump.html). ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/95 "2013-10-24T15:34:09Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > In the heart, center of chest, on the same level as your nipples, so that your other organs can be salvaged for transplant. Guaranteed, 100% effective. > I’m not trying to be morbid or anything, but if you’re deadset (no pun intended) on committing suicide… > **Please sign the back of your Drivers license agreeing to be an organ donor** before proceeding, and it would also be helpful if you do it right outside of the emergency entrance of your local hospital. Wrong! Actually many/most hospitals do not allow their staff to work on patients outside of the ER. I know of calls where EMS came, put the patient on the stretcher & wheeled them directly into the ER, because it would have taken longer to put the stretcher into the back of the ambulance first. You were also a bit off on [Post #80](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16786248#post16786248) ---
**Author:** ![eightysix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@eightysix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eightysix)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/96 "2013-10-24T15:51:59Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > In the heart, center of chest, on the same level as your nipples, so that your other organs can be salvaged for transplant. Guaranteed, 100% effective. > I’m not trying to be morbid or anything, but if you’re deadset (no pun intended) on committing suicide… > **Please sign the back of your Drivers license agreeing to be an organ donor** before proceeding, and it would also be helpful if you do it right outside of the emergency entrance of your local hospital. This won’t work. In order to be a whole organ donor you have to (1) be in a hospital when you die (2) die by being declared brain dead, and (3) have your body kept going by artificial life support. Basically, you have to be a “beating heart”, as you can not take organs out of a fully dead person and transplant them. Tissues, such as corneas, bone andj skin -yes. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/97 "2013-10-24T17:48:22Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > There is one method that is 100% effective at committing suicide: just wait. You’ll be dead soon enough. The problem is that for some people, waiting is the hardest part. Yes, the earworm was intentional. There are worse ones out there. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/98 "2013-10-25T07:10:52Z")
> [@eightysix](#): > > This won’t work. In order to be a whole organ donor you have to (1) be in a hospital when you die (2) die by being declared brain dead, and (3) have your body kept going by artificial life support. _ **Basically, you have to be a “beating heart”, as you can not take organs out of a fully dead person and transplant them.** _ Tissues, such as corneas, bone andj skin -yes. (bolding mine) Cite? :dubious: According to [the wikipedia page on organ transplantation and donation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_transplantation), tissues and organs are viable for up to 24 hours past the ‘cessation of heartbeat’. ---
**Author:** ![eightysix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@eightysix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eightysix)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/99 "2013-10-25T16:09:03Z")
Is this the passage you are referring to: “Organ donors may be living, brain dead, or dead via circulatory death.[1] Tissue may be recovered from donors who die of circulatory death, as well as of brain death – up to 24 hours past the cessation of heartbeat.”? It is confusingly written, but it does not make the assertion, as you do, that “organs are viable up to 24 hours after cessation of heart beat.” Rather it says that tissue may be recovered. [This](http://www.organtransplants.org/understanding/death/) link is a little more clear, but I admit I did not find what I would consider an imdependent authorative source backing up what I said. There really should be one, as it seems to be a very common misconception that organs can be taken out of a dead person and transplanted analogous to parting out a wrecked car. Once the flow of oxygenated blood stops, the organs start to be damaged. Sure, there is a small window during which, in theory, they may remain viable, but “in theory” is the operative phrase. In practice, the process of of harvesting, lining up recipients, assembling various teams to do the sirgeries, etc, is a logistically complicated endeavor that takes time. I work as an ME, and I work with transplant organizations all the time. When there is a beating heart donor death that falls under our jurisdiction, it always takes days, sometimes up to a week or so, from when we are notified of the brain death to when the body arrives post harvest in the morgue. Occasionally people do as the post above erroneously reccomends, and kill themselves leaving detailed and impassioned and generous requests to harvest their organs. Would that it could be done. But the sad fact is that it cannot. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605/100 "2013-10-25T18:10:57Z")
Thanks Doc! 🆒 I stand corrected and feel that I owe you an apology. I wasn’t aware that you’re much more qualified than I to comment on this subject, until after I had asked for a cite. :smack: Please accept my humble apology. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-based-suicide-temple-vs-mouth/631605.md?page=6)