Suicide and Public Awareness of Depression (How media report suicides, pro and con)

Recently, a middle-aged man committed suciide while on a business trip outside his country. He was married, had two lovely children, a lovely wife, a great job, was well-liked by all his co-workers worldwide and loved by all his many friends. Naturally, after the newspaper in Australia reported his death, in a small newspaper story of just two paragraphs, stating that the deceased -- let's call him Harvey Nettleton -- had jumped from the roof of a five-star hotel in Sydney where he was staying during a week-long business trip. Meanwhile, his frends and family back in his home country, Canada, were completely taken aback by the news of this suicide, which seemed to come out of nowhere! Everyone who knew Harvey said he was the life of the party, a good family man, a loving husband, a doting father, a great co-worker, a fantastic colleague, and nobody had a clue as to why he decided that fateful night, after midnight, around 1 am, to jump from the roof, climbing over a security fence and plumeting to his death.. The initirial news story did not say anything
about his slitting his wrists beforehand, but a later news story from the police sources in Sydney, said that Harvey's hotel room had blood on the bed sheets and a knife was found and no suicide note was found, and that the police concluded that he had slit his wrists,, taken the elevator to the top floor, walked up to the roof via a staircase, jumped  over the safety fence, and POOF, he's dead. 51 years old! AND NOBODY HAD A CLUE?

When I first heard this news via  a blog, I also was curious: what caused the impulsve to commit suidice and why the was media so sloppy and lazy at first in reprting the FACTS. My feeling is that if the man committed suicide due to midlife clinical depression, the media should discuss this just like we discuss cancer and Parkinson's disease and other brain aneurysms now. But because suicide does not haev a name, like HARVEY'S DISEASE we might call it, peoplle in the media are loathe to mention the S word. Or to even
tell readers what migth have been the cause. I mean, something causes cancer, right? So something causes suicide. Shouldn't we be courageous to discuss this now. AND IF WE TALK ABOUT THIS OPENLY IN THE NEWSPAPERS AND WEBSITES OF THE WORLD, MAYBE THIS HELP PREVENT FUTURE SUICIDES FROM TAKING PLACE SINCE PEOPLE WHO SUFFER FROM DEPRESSION CAN BE ABLE TO TALK ABOUT THEIR DISEASE WITHOUT BEING AFRAID TO MENTION IT. THAT IS my MO here.

Here is the news story:

Canadian visitor to Sydney dies in apparent suicide

Staff writer, Sydyey Sun, December 25, 2010

A Canadian man was found dead in a pool of blood on the sidewalk
outside a five-star hotel in Sydney yesterday, police said.

An initial investigation found that Harvey Nettleton, 51, had jumped to
his death from the top floor of the 12-story hotel building before
dawn, police in Sydney said.

An ambulance was sent to the scene soon after the Sydney Fire
Department was informed of the incident, but the man was pronounced
dead, apparently from a fractured skull.

The police have informed the Canadiab Enbassy in
Sydney of the incident.

Police said the man arrived in Sydney on a business visa last Friday
and was scheduled to leave on Monday.

The police said hotel monitors showed that he left his room at
1:18am and took the elevator to the ground floor.

At 2:07am, he took the elevator alone to the 10th floor, from where he
walked up to the 12th floor and jumped off the building.

His body has been taken to the Sydney Funeral Parlor
on Oxford Street, police said.

This story has been viewed 23,745,939 times.

No sooner had I posted this blog post than I received a polite cease and desist notice from a lawyer in Canada who told me to stop talking about this incident in public. The lawyer wrote to me:

Dear Sir:

Please be advised that I am the general counsel to Harvey's firm, the employer of the late Harvey Nettleton. I have received copy of published statements from you which appear to provide various speculation as to the cause and manner of death of Mr. Nettleton. This correspondence provides what could be construed as libelous and unsubstantiated statements harmful to the reputation of Mr. Nettleton, his family and the firm he worked for. You are hereby requested to cease and desist from any further activity. I am happy to discuss our position and perspective with you should you be so inclined. [If you are not the person who wrote said internet publications, please disregard and delete this email.]

TO which i replied:

Hello Lawyer,

THanks for note. I fully understand and I apologize......In no way,
was i trying to cause harm or hurt anyone. I had just
gone online via social media such as twitter to ask friends of his worldwide if they knew
of any other reasons he might have done what he did,
and since i live in Sydney and read the papers here, i just wanted to
let people know NEW FACTS that had emerged
but only IF they wanted to hear the gtrisly news.......i did not force
this on anyone, i assure you sir i am a sensitive person
who cares about human life and his family too......SO YES, I WILL STOP
RIGHT NOW AND NOT POST ANYTHING ANYMORE
about this...and please accept my apologies....My intent was to help
people UNDERSTAND what happened, but since
my online behavior was not so good or constructive, i will STOP NOW...

done deal

thanks for your understanding

i see your point

God rest his soul

NOW MY QUESTION TO MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS AND FAMILY COUNSELLORS AND CLERGY AND NEWSPAPER REPORTERS AND EDITORS WORLDWIDE is this:

SHould we discuss the reasons people commit suicide openly in public and in newspaper stories, or should we keep the entire THING secretive and in the closet of human conciousness? What is your POV, dear readers?