Four people were shot and killed and hundreds more were injured in Port Said during the funerals for 33 protesters killed on Saturday. The initial protests broke out after 21 people were sentenced to death for their roles at a deadly soccer match last year. Protests raged in Cairo for the fourth day as Egyptians accused President Mohamed Morsi of corruption and betraying the democratic aims of the revolution. Since Thursday, 46 people have died in protests, and President Morsi has declared a 30-day state of emergency and issued a curfew for three Suez Canal provinces.
From Houston, Florida comes this report of a couple who after falling on hard times financially and facing foreclosure decided their only option was to end their lives. They each left detailed suicide notes that included family contact information, as well as details for their funeral arrangements. It was more than a month afterwards before anyone became alarmed enough to check on the pair.
The reporter noted that his station doesn't normally report on suicides, but that the station felt perhaps they could use the March, 2011 report as a moment to inform people in need that other options exist.
There is no database that keeps track of foreclosure related suicides, and that is likely because it's difficult to label a death due to foreclosure alone, as noted in this research from 2011, conducted by a pair of economists who were able to tie health problems to the rise in home foreclosures:
New research by Janet Currie of Princeton University and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University shows a direct correlation between foreclosure rates and the health of residents in Arizona, California, Florida and New Jersey. The economists concluded in a paper published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research that an increase of 100 foreclosures corresponded to a 7.2% rise in emergency room visits and hospitalizations for hypertension, and an 8.1% increase for diabetes, among people aged 20 to 49.
Each rise of 100 foreclosures was also associated with 12% more visits related to anxiety in the same age category. And the same rise in foreclosures was associated with 39% more visits for suicide attempts among the same group, though this still represents a small number of patients, the researchers say.
Teasing out cause and effect can be delicate, and correlation doesn't necessarily mean foreclosures directly cause health problems. Financial duress, among other issues, could lead to health problems—and cause foreclosures, too.
The economists didn't find similar patterns with diseases such as cancer or elective surgeries such as hip replacement, leading them to conclude that areas with high foreclosures are seeing mostly an increase of stress-related ailments.
