The "Final Exit" of Burt Bacharach's Daughter
Nikki Bacharach, the daughter of Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickenson, has committed suicide. She had a form of autism, that apparently had left her very depressed. The statement from the family was that she "peacefully committed suicide to escape the ravages" of the disease.
The method utilized was that promoted by Derek Humphry, author of the how-to-commit suicide book Final Exit, and his fellow ilk of suicide zealots--suffication by helium and a plastic bag. I don't know if this is true, but it wouldn't surprise me if she had "assistance," since some euthanasia groups offer surreptitious suicide assistance and certainly have no interest, other than political appearances, of limiting "final exits" to the terminally ill. Our sympathies to her parents and our concern about a society that is beginning to extol the "choice" of suicide over its prevention.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 7:43 AM
12 Comments
12 Comments:
The kicker is Asperger's isn't even considered a severe form of autism. People who have it can function normally in this society.
I think some want to blame the "disorder" for the problem when in fact this person had depression.
I think the announcement is odd. On one hand, I understand not wanting to seem like one is condemning a deceased child. But it is almost as if they approved...
Gregory is nearer. Asperber Syndrome is just that, not a disease. However, all forms of autism have ramifications of stress and anxiety which society is less accepting of as these children develop into adults.
Best wishes
Yes, it definitely sounds like the parents approved. I don't think there's a whole lot of ambiguity about that.
And that might itself throw light on why she did it... But perhaps here I'm going too far in conjecture.
What a tragedy.
Tragic. And I have little doubt she accessed Humphry's how to do it info, or something like it. These people who give the depressed and despairing moral permission to kill themselves and teach them how to do it have much for which to answer.
It was something like that which got me into these issues in the first place, which I will discuss in my Tues. podcast.
My prayers go out to the girl's family and for the repose of her soul. It's a sick, sad thing that people who are depressed aren't helped and are seen as being such a burden that they're better off dead.
Welcome to the world of the disposable person, ladies and gentlemen. Hurrah for the cult of uselessness.
To be fair, one sometimes hears "get help" or "get some meds" as though mental illness were as easy to cure as strep throat. I've known some mentally ill people who, with the best their doctors and families could do for them, simply couldn't function. One man in particular had diabetes, hypertension, and epilepsy, and his uncontrollable depression was probably at least partly the result of drug interactions. This was over 20 years ago; maybe they could do better now. But when he killed himself, nobody was very surprised.
I don't suppose that Asperger's and mental illness are mutually exclusive.
If Nikki Bacharach was depressed to the point of being suicidal, that falls under the umbrella of mental illness, IMO.
AND, whether mentally ill or not, there was significant pro suicide advocacy out there that could well have influenced her decision.
I am a 48 year old woman with Asperger's. The neurological condition makes it difficult to deal with other people--- I can't make eye contact properly, always do the wrong thing in social situations, have zero friends....
Many Aspies (Asperger's people) are highly intelligent. Some are able to get jobs as writers, computer geeks, university professors--- where the social oddities are allowable. Others are chronically unemployed and too intelligent to be allowed disability benefits.
Because of the stresses caused by my Asperger's I can get quite depressed from time to time. That's why I'm so against assisted suicide. I love my life and don't want to lose it because society, which doesn't value people like me, is ready to hand me a death pill to cure a temporary depression.
Nissa:
Asperger's is just another way the human brain is wired so that we as people get the benefits of variety. Syndromes that cause death and undue pain should be treated. Syndromes that alter a person's perspective or increase intelligence should be studied so as to give folks with them the benefit of a long, happy, and cheerful life, without being looked down upon. I'm with you - suicide is a permenant solution to a temporary problem.
My daughter and Nikki were both born the same day at the same hospital in Glendale CA and were both premature. I watched that little person struggle and fight for life. My heart goes out to her family now as it did then.
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