Suicide in San Francisco: Reported and Unreported

Reported suicide in San Francisco was investigated for the period between July 1956, through June 1964. During that time 1664 persons killed themselves, according to the Coroner''s records. The method most frequently used was oral ingestion of toxic substances, which significantly deviates from national statistics, shooting being the method most frequently reported. The explanation for this deviation is probably the more valid mortality statistics of San Francisco, and from this it may be inferred that unreported suicide may be largely suicide by ingestion, unrecognized because of lack of postmortem studies.Unreported suicide is further classified into intentioned (masked, suppressed and undiscovered) and subintentioned (oral-dependent and aggressive).Despite the fact that suicide has been a leading cause of death, the public and the medical profession are largely apathetic. An attempt is being made by Suicide Prevention of San Francisco, Inc. to develop a clinical and research facility for the study and treatment of suicidal persons.     

Environmental setting of San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay, the largest bay on the California coast, is a broad, shallow, turbid estuary comprising two geographically and hydrologically distinct subestuaries: the northern reach lying between the connection to the Pacific Ocean at the Golden Gate and the confluence of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, and the southern reach (herein called South Bay) between the Golden Gate and the southern terminus of the bay. The northern reach is a partially mixed estuary dominated by seasonally varying river inflow, and the South Bay is a tidally oscillating lagoon-type estuary. Freshwater inflows, highest during winter, generate strong estuarine circulation and largely determine water residence times. They also bring large volumes of dissolved and particulate materials to the estuary. Tidal currents, generated by mixed semidiurnal and diurnal tides, mix the water column and, together with river inflow and basin geometry, determine circulation patterns. Winds, which are strongest during summer and during winter storms, exert stress on the bay's water surface, thereby creating large waves that resuspend sediment from the shallow bay bottom and, together with the tidal currents, contribute markedly to the transport of water masses throughout the shallow estuary.