Apparently, if you get cancer, you're more likely to kill yourself. Huh. Someone actually did a research paper on this. Having seen two parents who did pretty much that, I can hardly say I'm shocked by Dr. Wayne Kendal's findings. What I am shocked by is the fact that we needed a study to figure that out. I'm glad that Dr. Obvious was using American money for this little boondoggle, and not my tax dollars or my annual contribution to the Cancer Society. Otherwise, I'm would want a government handout to study whether or not today is Friday.

In a research paper published on-line this week in the Annals of Oncology, Dr. Wayne Kendal analyzed 1.3 million cancer cases in the United States and found that 19 out of every 1,000 male cancer patients and four out of every 1,000 female cancer patients committed suicide.

At about 24 suicides per 100,000 among cancer patients per year, the rate was between two and two-and-a-half times that of the general population. Overall, the U.S. population records 10.6 suicides per 100,000 people, including cancer patients.

The nearly fivefold predominance of suicides among male-to-female cancer patients reflects a similar pattern in the general population.

Let's see... you get a life-ending, wasting, horribly painful disease, and that makes you five-times more likely to top yourself? Imagine that!

I also feel sorry for Globe & Mail subscribers (I often feel that way for them). They paid to read this news. The G&M actually used valuable space to run this.

In other news, it's still Friday!