Over the last three decades, Liz Riggs has lost her brother, her step-father and a nephew to suicide. Her maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother also died by suicide. That’s why the Winnetka woman worries “all the time” about whether she could lose any more family members to this public health epidemic that’s growing only worse.
Recently released provisional numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics show that nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives to suicide last year. And the final count is likely to be even higher, according to the federal agency.
