local news for the fail, once again...

[rivendellrose]

I have no idea why, but some man SET HIMSELF ON FIRE in the middle of my alma mater's campus. What. The. HELL.

They think it's a suicide attempt (what else would you call dousing yourself in gas and lighting a match, I suppose?), but... umm... excuse me if I think that's not exactly a normal way to choose to go? I mean... and in the middle of UW campus? Why?

ETA: Campus chatter is that the guy was a former employee in the Facilities department. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and assume that Facilities is undergoing budget cuts and is letting some people go... damn.

Comments

[ursula]

Wow, I have been studying in Suzzallo all afternoon & completely missed it.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Judging from the article, I'm glad you didn't have to see it. o_O

[ursula]

Yeah, it's just weird to learn about an event directly outside from lj.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I totally understand. I had that a few times when I still worked on campus... It's a big place, and sometimes the buildings can be awfully cut off from the outside.

[ex_mrs260625]

Oh God, that's my worst nightmare. I had a friend from high school who was very badly burned in a vehicle accident--I can't think of a worse way to go, or a worse thing to survive.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah... usually I'm thrilled to hear that someone's survived a suicide attempt - I don't think it's wrong to try, but I do think it's a horrible waste. As bad as the world can be, I think it's better than not being. But with this gentleman... I have to admit that I couldn't help feeling almost worse for him to hear there's a chance he might make it.

He's been rushed to Harborview, the best hospital in the area, but from the eyewitness reports I've read, he was burned all over. Even at Harborview, that's going to be a harsh outlook, especially at 61. Poor man. Poor, poor man.

The worst of it is, I've heard there's a good chance he was trying to kill himself because he'd lost his job. No job... no health insurance...

[ex_mrs260625]

Surely they wouldn't charge for this kind of thing? He wasn't exactly in any shape to refuse treatment, so even in a system where you have to pay for medical care, there's no way he should be held responsible for the costs.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I don't know if they do or not for this kind of thing (although the US healthcare system is pretty damned screwed up, so I'd hardly doubt anything of it right now, but... at least for this gentleman it turns out it won't matter. I checked for updates a moment ago, and he's passed away at the hospital.

There's still been no official word on who he was or why he did it. The former-employee thing was just chatter I heard from other UW employees.

What a horrible mess.

[ex_mrs260625]

It is probably for the best, unfortunately... burns are so horrible to try to recover from. Still, what an awful way to go, and how awful for the witnesses.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I'm... kind of relieved for him, but even still...

He did it at passing time, too. Why would a person do that? If he wanted to kill himself, okay, I can understand that, but... I don't understand doing it where other people are going to be endangered. The square was full of students going from one class to another - it's one of the busiest parts of campus at that time. I can't even imagine what that would have been like for everyone. I'm proud a lot of people tried to help put him out, though.

[maho-kiwi.livejournal.com]

Newsletter from the provost informs us (do you still get that, as alumni?) that the man was indeed former faculty, and he died not long after reaching the hospital. No other news though

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

That's so awful... poor man. At least in the darkness he was feeling, he was kind enough to not take other people with him
like so many other people do in the same circumstances.
So sad.