Suicide

Suicidal tendencies — Masaro seconds before committing suicide

Suicidal Romulan female — A Romulan female Zhat Vash member committing suicide.

Suicide was the termination of one's life by one's own hand. The action could 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, voluntarily entered disintegration stations as part of a social contract. (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")

Klingon warriors believed that a suicide that caused the death of an enemy was an honorable form of death. Warriors who became infirm or who lost honor could request the assistance of another to perform Hegh'bat or Mauk-to'Vor, forms of ritual suicide. However, Klingons believed that unassisted suicide was an honorless death, and thus souls of Klingons who did so were condemned to Gre'thor. (TNG: "Reunion", "Ethics"; DS9: "Sons of Mogh", "Children of Time")

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

A Kasseelian prima donna trained her entire life for one performance, and completed suicide by driving a dagger into her chest upon hitting the last high E note. (DIS: "Brother")

Some Vulcans performed ritual suicide when they "reach[ed] 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")

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

Vorta were expected to kill themselves by activating their termination implant if they were captured. (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 T. 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")

Commander Ari bn Bem considered ceasing to exist, but the god-like alien entity inhabiting Delta Theta III did not wish harm to come to him and thus convinced him not to. (TAS: "Bem")

In 2366, the living starship Gomtuu attempted to die by entering orbit of Beta Stromgren, a star on the verge of supernova. (TNG: "Tin Man")

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 completing 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 by 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 attempted suicide by injecting himself with large doses of triptacederine because of the pain caused by his cranial implant. He was stopped by Doctor 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 a virtual Argrathi prison. He was talked out of it by Julian Bashir. (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. Worf attempted to grant him this request, and stabbed his brother in the chest, but the ritual was interrupted by Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax and Constable Odo, who arrived in time to beam Kurn to Sickbay, where he was successfully treated for his injury. (DS9: "Sons of Mogh")

Vidiian Danara 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 Voval, an Iyaaran ambassador assigned to investigate the Human emotion of love. (TNG: "Liaisons")

While trying to fight Borg nanoprobes, Dr. Phlox gave Captain Archer a hypospray with a neural toxin that would kill Phlox in seconds should his omicron particle 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 and was silent during the hearing, knowing that this would cost her life. (DS9: "Dax")

In 2381, Lieutenant jg Beckett Mariner repeatedly put herself in mortal danger due to a recent promotion causing untreated severe survivor guilt stemming from Sito Jaxa's death and the Dominion War to flare up. After noticing her emotional turmoil and managing to convince her to talk about it, Ma'ah talked her out of it by forcing her to realize that Sito would never approve of her behavior. (LD: "The Inner Fight")

Suicides completed

22nd century

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

Ensign Masaro killed himself with a phase-pistol after Captain Archer confronted him 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

Specialist Michael Burnham committed suicide using weaponized dark matter while stuck in a time loop to force Harry Mudd, who was controlling the loop, to reset it in order to prevent her death. This was part of a plan to regain control of the USS Discovery, which Mudd had seized. (DIS: "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")

Lieutenant Hemmer committed suicide on Valeo Beta V after being implanted with Gorn eggs. (SNW: "All Those Who Wander")

Lieutenant Joe Tormolen, under the influence of polywater intoxication after an away mission to Psi 2000, became morose and attempted 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")

Roger Korby committed suicide in 2266 while being kissed by the android Andrea on Exo III. Korby neutralized himself and Andrea in the action. (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")

Commodore Matt Decker committed suicide by piloting a shuttlecraft into the planet killer after being relieved of command of the USS 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 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")

Clark Terrell's suicide — Terrell, vaporizing himself

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

Members of the Starnes Exploration Party 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 died after he 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").

In order to cause a distraction, Maab made a conspicuous demonstration before a Klingon and no attempt to evade the ensuring phaser fire that killed him. (TOS: "Friday's Child"

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

Khan 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 in exchange for having saved Harewood's daughter's life. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

24th century

In the 2310s Yvette Picard committed suicide due to severe untreated mental illness by hanging herself at the family estate, traumatizing her son Jean-Luc for life. (PIC: "Hide and Seek")

In 2367 a Klingon warrior working for Duras, son of Ja'rod detonated an explosive device implanted in his arm in an attempt to kill Gowron, killing himself in the process. (TNG: "Reunion")

Lieutenant Daniel Kwan killed himself under telepathic influence by jumping into 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")

Teirna 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 his defection was for naught. (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, thereby killing itself. (VOY: "In the Flesh")

The android F8 shot himself in the head after he helped lay the groundwork for the Attack on Mars. (PIC: "Maps and Legends")

Euthanasia

Euthanasia was the termination of life by another party at the request of an individual who wished to die. This could be for religious, cultural, or medical reasons. It could 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)

In an illusory scenario experienced by Kathryn Janeway while a member of an alien species tried to get her to enter his matrix, The Doctor claimed she had been infected with the Vidiian phage and that the only solution was euthanasia. He then killed her with nerve gas. (VOY: "Coda")

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, he felt that 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 who had been infected with assimilation nanoprobes. (Star Trek: First Contact)

Fictional suicides

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

Methods of suicide

Dagger to the chest (DIS: "Brother";TNG: "Night Terrors")
Disintegration station (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")
cellular toxin (VOY: "In the Flesh")
colonial disassembly (TAS: "Bem")
hanging (DS9: "Rocks and Shoals", PIC: "Hide and Seek")
Neuro-depolarizing device (DS9: "Extreme Measures")
Phaser, phase-pistol (TNG: "First Contact"; DS9: "Hard Time", ENT: "Terra Prime")
Poison (TOS: "Journey to Babel")
- Cyalodin (TOS: "And the Children Shall Lead")
- Felodesine chip (TNG: "The Defector")
- Neural toxin (ENT: "Regeneration")
- Nogatch hemlock (VOY: "Death Wish")
- Triptacederine overdose (DS9: "The Wire")
Suicide gland (ENT: "Rajiin")
Suffocation (ENT: "Minefield")
Termination implant (DS9: "Treachery, Faith and the Great River")
Hegh'bat or Mauk-to'Vor rituals. (TNG: "Hegh'bat"; DS9: "Sons of Mogh")
Ingesting weaponized dark matter (DIS: "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")
Zeroing out of an android's neural net. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder")

Death wishes

Sometimes, individuals could have suicidal urges that drove them into putting themselves into extremely dangerous and life-threatening situations. A tendency to expose oneself to such danger was 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 Vic's lounge, even though Frank Chalmers had told him to never set foot in the casino again. (DS9: "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang")

In a deleted scene from "Death Wish"), Janeway says that attempted suicide is a crime on Romulus, and helping someone commit suicide is considered homicide.

Appendices

Background information

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

External links

Suicide at Wikipedia
Mass suicide at Wikipedia