Social Humanity: Apocarteresis, a natural way to die, and strangulation, a good, quick way

Another of this blog's greatest hits, updated with bonus links:

If I ever choose to kill myself, my preference would be apocarteresis, a word I hadn't known until I saw it in Suicide methods:

Starvation has been used by Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monks as a ritual method of suicide. Albigensians or Cathars also fasted after receiving the 'consolamentum' sacrament, in order to die while in a morally perfect state.

The explorer Thor Heyerdahl refused to eat or take medication for the last month of his life, after having been diagnosed with cancer.

A hunger strike may ultimately lead to death.

I had once thought I would try to get lost in the snow, but people don't just go to sleep in the cold. Often they tear off their clothes. Most likely, they feel like they're burning up.

Strangling may be a better choice for those who are afraid someone will find and force-feed them. Most other methods seem awfully inconsiderate to those who have to deal with the body. Suicide is your last chance to live well, so choose wisely.

Possibly of interest: More Patients Choose Starvation Than Assisted Suicide:

"We were surprised that patients who chose this means to hasten death were, according to their nurses, more peaceful and suffered less in the last two weeks before death than patients who choose assisted suicide," Ganzini said.