Suicide

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Masaro seconds before committing suicide

Death wish redirects here; for the VOY episode with a similar title, please see "Death Wish".

Suicide is the termination of one's life by one's own hand. The action can be a personal choice brought on by extraneous circumstances, part of one's culture, or a military directive.

Cultural considerations

• The citizens of the planets Eminiar VII and Eminiar III (Vendikar), prior to the end of their centuries long war, would voluntarily enter disintegration stations as part of a social contract. (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")

• Klingon warriors who become infirm or who lose honor may request the assistance of another to perform Hegh'bat or Mauk-to'Vor, forms of ritual suicide. (TNG: "Ethics"; DS9: "Sons of Mogh", "Children of Time")

• All Kaelons are required to perform suicide at age of sixty so that the elders won't stress the society. (TNG: "Half a Life")

• Some Vulcans perform ritual suicide when they "reach a certain infirmity of age". (VOY: "Death Wish")

• A Bolian medical philosophy on euthanasia was developed during their Middle Ages known as the "Double Effect Principle". The position held that an act which had the principle effect of relieving suffering was ethically acceptable even if the same act had the secondary effect of causing death. (VOY: "Death Wish") This is essentially the same as the Catholic principle of double effecton Earth.

• Xindi-Reptilians have a suicide gland for use in the event they are captured. (ENT: "Rajiin")

• Vorta are expected to kill themselves when they are captured by activating their termination implant. (DS9: "The Magnificent Ferengi", "Treachery, Faith and the Great River")

Attempted or considered

• Malcolm Reed tried to suffocate himself when pinned to the hull of Enterprise NX-01 by a Romulan mine, attempting to force Captain Archer to save the ship and crew. (ENT: "Minefield")

• Attempting suicide was grounds to relieve a flag officer of command according to Starfleet Order 104, Section C. In 2267, Spock threatened to relieve Commodore Matt Decker per that regulation after stating he would interpret Decker's initial refusal to veer off from an attack on the Planet killer as a suicide attempt. (TOS: "The Doomsday Machine")

• That same year Isak asked James Kirk and Spock, who were imprisoned with him by the National Socialist Party of Ekos, if they were trying to kill themselves when he observed them removing subcutaneous transponders from their arms. (TOS: "Patterns of Force")

• In 2367, Minister Krola tried to kill himself with William T. Riker's phaser, intending to make it look like Riker killed him so Chancellor Avel Durken would not choose to pursue diplomatic relations with the Federation. Fortunately for him, Riker's phaser was only set on stun. (TNG: "First Contact")

• Soon after, Worf almost committed suicide aboard the USS Enterprise-D, due to the fear he felt caused by dream deprivation. Deanna Troi talked him out of it. (TNG: "Night Terrors")
• Troi nearly killed herself under telepathic influence after experiencing very disturbing hallucinations. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder")

• Lieutenant Commander Data once considered zeroing his neural net, essentially wiping his entire memory and committing suicide. The formation of new neural pathways was very disorienting and he felt that starting all over again would be easier. He later decided not to do it. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder")

• In 2369, Commander Benjamin Sisko considered the accident of Ty Kajada in Quark's as a possible suicide not knowing that she was attacked from Rao Vantika's consciousness in Doctor Julian Bashir. (DS9: "The Passenger")

• The same year Mullibok considered suicide by staying at his cottage home on the Bajoran moon Jerrado although the Bajoran Provisional Government evacuated the moon to use its planetary core for energy mining. (DS9: "Progress")

• In 2370, Elim Garak tried to commit suicide by injecting himself large doses of triptacederine because of the pain caused by his cranial implant. He was stopped by Doctor Julian Bashir. (DS9: "The Wire")

• Neelix nearly killed himself after being brought back from death with Borg nanoprobes and experiencing a serious crisis of faith. He almost beamed himself into open space, but Chakotay managed to stop him in time. (VOY: "Mortal Coil")

• Miles O'Brien almost killed himself with a phaser after experiencing two decades of virtual imprisonment in an Argrathi prison. (DS9: "Hard Time")

• Worf wanted Riker to help him perform a ritual suicide called hegh'bat after experiencing a paralyzing spinal injury. (TNG: "Ethics")

• Worf's brother Kurn wanted Worf to kill him in order to restore the honor of their family. (DS9: "Sons of Mogh")

• Vidiian Denara Pel attempted to kill her real phage-ravaged body, after her consciousness had been transferred into a hologram, in order to spend more time with The Doctor. Eventually, she returned to her own body. (VOY: "Lifesigns")

• The single survivor of a shipwreck, Anna, threatened to kill herself by jumping off a cliff in order to make Picard fall in love with her. In reality she was a man called Voval, an Iyaaran ambassador assigned to investigate the Human emotion of love. (TNG: "Liaisons")

• While trying to fight Borg nanoprobes, Phlox gave Captain Archer a hypospray with a toxin that would kill Phlox in seconds should his omicron radiation treatment prove unsuccessful. (ENT: "Regeneration")

• In 2369 the Trill Jadzia Dax was accused of treason and murder. She said nothing about the accusations of Dax's former host Curzon Dax and was silent during the hearing, knowing that this would cost her life. (DS9: "Dax")

Suicide performed

22nd century

• Charles, a Vissian Cogenitor, killed itself after Archer declined asylum in an attempt to get equal rights, and the Vissian vessel departed. (ENT: "Cogenitor")

• Ensign Masaro killed himself with a phase pistol after confronting Captain Archer regarding his involvement with Terra Prime. (ENT: "Terra Prime")

• Commander Tucker sacrificed himself while trying to save Captain Archer from a group of alien criminals. (ENT: "These Are the Voyages...")

23rd century

• Lieutenant Joe Tormolen, under the influence of polywater intoxication after an away mission to Psi 2000, became morose and committed suicide by stabbing himself with a dinner knife. Although Tormolen received medical attention and his wound should have been treatable, he died in surgery. Doctor Leonard McCoy later remarked that Tormolen died because he didn't want to live. (TOS: "The Naked Time")

• Commodore Matt Decker committed suicide after being relieved of command of the Enterprise. As it turned out, in doing so he gave Captain Kirk the hint required to destroy the planet killer. (TOS: "The Doomsday Machine")

Kryton commits suicide

• Kryton committed suicide with a phaser after sabotaging the engines of the Enterprise for the Klingons, in order to keep the sabotage secret. (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius")

• Thelev, an Orion disguised as an Andorian ambassador, committed suicide with a poison pill to avoid capture after a mission to disrupt the Babel Conference failed. Although he said it was a "slow poison", he died quicker than even he expected. His comrades died when setting off the auto-destruct on the ship they were using to attack the Enterprise. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")

File:Terrell, suicide.jpg

Terrell, vaporizing himself

• The M-5 computer terminated itself after understanding its crimes against Humanity. (TOS: "The Ultimate Computer")

• Members of the Starnes Expedition to Triacus killed themselves as a result of mental illness inflicted upon them by the Gorgan, acting through their children. (TOS: "And the Children Shall Lead")

• Dr. Sevrin knowingly ate acid-laced fruit on what he believed to be the planet Eden, rather than return to the Enterprise. (TOS: "The Way to Eden").

• Captain Clark Terrell vaporized himself with a phaser to stop the pain of the Ceti eel and prevent himself from killing Admiral Kirk under Khan's influence. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

• Khan Noonien Singh committed suicide by detonating the Genesis Device aboard the USS Reliant. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

• • In the alternate reality, Thomas Harewood committed suicide when he was coerced by John Harrison to blow up the Kelvin Memorial Archive to save his his daughter's life. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

24th century

• Lieutenant Daniel Kwan killed himself under telepathic influence by jumping to the plasma stream of the warp nacelle's plasma injector. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder")

• In an alternate timeline in which his father became trapped in subspace during a subspace inversion, an elderly Jake Sisko injected himself with poison during the short time when his father re-appeared in normal space - by dying when their "bond" was at its strongest, he was able to send him back to the time of the accident, and the captain knew to dodge the energy discharge which would trap him in the first place. (DS9: "The Visitor")

• Quinn, a member of the Q Continuum, wanted to become mortal in order to kill himself. Later he succeeded, poisoning himself with Nogatch hemlock provided by Q. (VOY: "Death Wish")

• Scientist Gideon Seyetik flew a shuttlepod into the dead star at Epsilon 119, dying in the name of science to restart the star's nuclear reactions. His wife Nidell was unable to divorce him even if she wanted to. He felt how unhappy she was and decided the only way to make her happy was to end his life. (DS9: "Second Sight")

• Tierna of the Kazon-Nistrim detonated a bomb inside his body while he was in captivity on Voyager. (VOY: "Basics, Part I")

• Boraalan Vorin performed ritual suicide due to cultural shock. He was unable to cope with the transition from his pre-industrial culture to the highly futuristic 24th century. (TNG: "Homeward")

• Defective clone Weyoun 6 killed himself with the Vorta termination implant in order to protect Odo. (DS9: "Treachery, Faith and the Great River")

• Hekaran scientist Serova blew up her ship while on board in order to prove that warp drives were dangerous. (TNG: "Force of Nature")

• Romulan defector Alidar Jarok killed himself with a Felodesine chip after hearing that all his information was worthless and everything was futile. (TNG: "The Defector")

• Vedek Yassim, in order to protest the occupation of Deep Space 9 and the evil the Prophets had seen in the Dominion, committed suicide on the Promenade of the station by hanging herself. (DS9: "Rocks and Shoals")

• Luther Sloan triggered a suicide device while attempting to prevent Julian Bashir from finding the cure for the Changeling disease, stored in his memory. (DS9: "Extreme Measures")

• The Cardassians claimed that William Samuels, a member of the Maquis responsible for the destruction of the Cardassian freighter Bok'Nor, committed suicide after his interrogation. (DS9: "The Maquis, Part I")

• A squad of Jem'Hadar having failed to prevent the death of a Founder, killed themselves for their failure. (DS9: "The Ship")

• A member of Species 8472 disguised as David Gentry released a cellular toxin into his bloodstream on discovering that he had been captured by Humans, therefore killing the member of Species 8472. (VOY: "In the Flesh")

Euthanasia

Euthanasia is the termination of life by another party at the request of an individual who wishes to die. This may be for religious, cultural, or medical reasons. It can be regarded either as assisted suicide or as murder upon request of the victim.

• Euthanasia services were provided to the victims of the "Quickening", the final stage of the painful, incurable and potentially fatal Teplan blight. (DS9: "The Quickening")

• Leonard McCoy "pulled the plug" for his father, David McCoy, who suffered from a painful and incurable illness. Cruelly, a cure was found only a short time afterward. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

• When the USS Enterprise-E was invaded by Borg after following a Borg Sphere to the 21st century, Jean-Luc Picard advised his officers that they should not hesitate firing on assimilated Enterprise crew members. Rather, killing them would be the merciful thing to do. Later, as his assault team retreated to a Jefferies tube, Picard was forced to kill a crewman that had been infected with assimilation nanoprobes before escaping into a hatch. (Star Trek: First Contact)

Uncertain or suicide missions

Listed here are character(s) who have performed potentially lethal activities, knowing the possible consequences.

• Kathryn Janeway and Tuvok stayed on board the USS Voyager while the ship was running a self-destruct sequence. (VOY: "Dreadnought")

• In an alternate timeline, Kathryn Janeway rammed the Krenim weapon ship in order to restore the timeline back to normal. (VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II") (See also: Kamikaze)

• B'Elanna Torres performed a number of holodeck simulations in which the safety protocols had been deactivated. In one simulation involving a recreation of the Delta Flyer, she was knocked unconscious as the vessel entered the atmosphere, and may have died had it not been for a vigilant Chakotay. (VOY: "Extreme Risk")

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard beamed aboard the Reman warbird Scimitar in an attempt to destroy the thalaron generator, which was only minutes from activating. The Enterprise transporters went down shortly after he was beamed aboard the Scimitar, so a rescue would have been impossible. (Star Trek Nemesis)

• Commander Data sacrificed himself to destroy the Scimitar by firing a hand phaser at the thalaron generator, knowing it was totally impossible for him to survive the resulting explosion. (Star Trek Nemesis)

This is uncertain, as Data knew that his memory had been transferred to B-4.

• In order to repair the warp engines of the Enterprise, Spock entered a radiation-flooded reactor room well knowing that he would probably not survive the radiation. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

This is uncertain, as Spock transferred his katra to McCoy before entering the reactor room.

• In order to get to the main engineering of USS Enterprise-D and repair the antimatter containment field, Data had to take a chance of being electrocuted and killed. (TNG: "Disaster")

• Captain Archer volunteered for a suicide mission to destroy the Xindi superweapon. However, he failed and was captured by the Reptilians. (ENT: "Azati Prime")

• In the Mirror universe, in order to give time for the rest of his crew to reach escape pods, Maximilian Forrest stayed aboard the ISS Enterprise as it was being destroyed by the Tholians. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly")

• Q, stripped of his powers and the reason the Calamarain attacked the USS Enterprise-D, left the ship in a shuttlecraft in an attempt to sacrifice himself and save the ship. (TNG: "Deja Q")

• In the alternate reality, following a devastating attack on the USS Kelvin by the Romulan starship Narada, acting captain George Kirk was forced to stay on board the Kelvin and set a collision course with the Narada after the auto pilot controls were destroyed. His actions helped save the fleeing shuttlecraft, which had abandoned ship on Kirk's orders. (Star Trek)

Fictional suicides

• In Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables, Inspector Javert commits suicide. (DS9: "For the Uniform")

Methods of suicide

• Products of genetic engineering like a termination implant or suicide gland
• Self-destruct or ramming
• Poisons and radiation
• Weapons, such as a phaser or a knife

Death wishes

Sometimes, individuals may have suicidal urges that drive them into putting themselves into extremely dangerous and life-threatening situations. A tendency to expose oneself to such danger is often referred as a death wish.

• In 2152, Kuroda Lor-ehn refused to leave a doomed Enolian transport because the alternative would be a life sentence on the notorious Canamar.

• In 2372, during Worf's trial for destroying a Klingon civilian transport ship, Captain Benjamin Sisko told Odo to investigate the possibility that the Klingon captain had had a death wish. (DS9: "Rules of Engagement")

• After Kurn deliberately let a Boslic shoot him in one of Deep Space 9's cargo bays, Odo told Worf "a man with a death wish is a danger not only to himself, but to the rest of his team." (DS9: "Sons of Mogh")

• Michael Eddington pretended that he had a death wish, something that Benjamin Sisko was able to disprove in 2373. (DS9: "Blaze of Glory")

• In 2375, Tony Cicci wondered if Vic Fontaine had a death wish for coming back to the lounge, even though Frank Chalmers had told him to never set foot in the casino again. (DS9: "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang")

Appendices

See also

• "Pattern Suicide"

Background information

Suicide has been a plot element on several Star Trek episodes, but only "Eye of the Beholder" and "Death Wish" have discussed the ethics of suicide.

External link

• Suicide at Wikipedia