Shane Tusch faked his suicide in an attempt to test the authenticity of Facebook suicide prevention tool and got detained for 72 hours
Facebook has rolled out a set of tools to keep a check on its users who are having suicidal tendencies and prevent these users from suicidal attempts. In case some user is having suicidal thoughts and mentions that in the Facebook posts and if a friend of that user reports it to Facebook then a third party will immediately review the post and Facebook would lock the suicidal user’s account and the user will be made to read Facebook’s suicide prevention materials.
Shane Tusch, a resident of San Mateo, wanted to check out if this suicide prevention tool is real or not!
On 26th February 2015, Tusch posted his frustrations regarding the stress he had been facing due to first amendment made to his home loan by the bank. He posted that he was undergoing trouble paying his bank debts for quite some time and in the post he declared that he would take his life in some public place.
Tusch’s post read :”So I have decided to take my life in some very public way that will hopefully get people talking about the crimes these banks have payed off are governments and left their wives and kids in the streets. I think hanging myself from the Golden Gate Bridge with a big sign that says bank america killed me and left my wife and kids without a father or a home!”
Tusch’s used his real Facebook profile to carry out the experiment and neither his family nor his friends knew about his experiment. Immediately, Tusch’s friends responded to his frustrations as they were worried about him and one of his friends even tagged Facebook to his post.
Soon Tusch’s Facebook account was locked and in the meantime some unknown person who read this post informed police. San Mateo police took Tusch in their custody and inquired him regarding the post which Tusch confirmed was written by him however he also made it clear to the police that he was not planning for a suicide, this was just to release his frustrations regarding the First Amendment made by Bank America and he wanted to get this in public.
Shane Tusch is a part time electrician by profession and also an activist.
Tusch was detained in a mental asylum for about 72 hours i.e. 3 days. Not only that it seems he was tested for TB, HIV and overall 7 blood tests done along with his urine tests. He also posted that he was kept in a very inhumane conditions.
With the depression being on its peak all around and people attempting suicides it seems that the step taken by Facebook to prevent the users from committing suicide is really good; however there has to be some proper methods which should be taken because if people like Shane Tusch are just using Facebook to release their frustrations on Facebook and get caught then it would be a great problem.
Besides if all people would be retained for 72 hours in mental asylum then that will be a great burden on the already overburdened mental health facilities, isn’t it?
Proof that they don’t actually care. They just want to take you down themselves. Better than people asking questions, right?
Just wait until he gets the bill. Then we’ll see how this “experiment” plays out.
He was blaming some organization. That is the problem I think.
It’s not a civil right’s violation and you can’t sue. This is a poorly written article. They’re not called “asylums” anymore, and his “inhuman conditions” would include things like, not having anything you could harm yourself with, no caffeine after a certain time of day, regulated meals, and lack of privacy (to prevent self harm). 72 hold in these hospitals is standard practice for those trying to harm themselves if the authorities are contacted. They are screened by a behavioral health specialist and if the person is deemed to be a risk to themselves they are held for 72 hours then reevaluated. The only burden to the health care system is that he wasn’t serious and he conducted an “experiment” that used resources better used for someone at risk and not some asshole who wanted to play with the system.
Exactly, I went through this myself in Santa Clara County (just south of San Mateo County) and it was exactly as you described. The kept me for 48 hours and deemed I was not harmful to myself or others and thus released before the 72 hour hold. During that time, the situation (while unnerving) kept those who were detained from harming themselves.
It would have benefitted this article if the author would have taken some time to learn more about the healthcare system and not just how to use facebook.
Did my comments get denied because I won’t side with author?
Hi Tim
Your comments may have been caught up in Askimet. Sorry for that
Regards
personally, i find it a little ridiculous. i got hit by this because i was feeling down and asked people for reasons to live. i didn’t want to kill myself but i was struggling with why i should keep living. i knew my friends would say some warm things and help me remember the good in my life which is why i reached out. someone tagged me and i got locked out of my facebook. worst part about that is i got locked out of most of the apps on my phone as well so it was a serious pain in the ass just to use my phone. needless to say that sucked and took up most of my day. i don’t think this suicide prevention tool is executed in a way that is beneficial because the next time i feel really depressed i wont want to reach out to my friends that way. setting something like that as a status is more beneficial than anything because suddenly people you forgot about remind you of good things and you are loved. it’s more effective than reaching out to that one friend and hoping they say the right thing. i never want to burden people with that, or put that much pressure on someone. on facebook people might get worried but the bystander apathy effect means people wont beat themselves up for not knowing the right thing to say.
anyways this is important to me because i have a personality disorder and suicidal thoughts come along with it. i know i wont act on it but sometimes i get locked into a way of thinking and i need someone to shake me out of it. i’m all for the idea for flagging and providing information for where to get help but locking a suicidal person out of facebook just isolates them from people who can cheer them up. the whole thing served me no benefits at all though because due to my mental illness, i have been aware of all the resources in my area since its onset, and i know a lot more than facebook was able to tell me.
Quick; write the book and pay BOA off…….