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Suicide Death at the Night Hotel

A 21-year-old woman from Minnesota committed suicide by jumping from a fire escape at the Night Hotel in Manhattan the other night. Typically, we like to stay away from such sad stories because we think that job is best done by newspaper reporters and the like, especially when it involves a loss of life. (Anna Nicole Smith, on the other hand, is a different matter.)

However, it is frightening to hear about yet another suicide at a hotel. As we regularly hunt down hotel news, we come across this type of hotel-building-death-leap more often than you would think/like to. And, not surprisingly, hotels have often been a popular place for suicide. Even way back when in 1910 the NY Times reported on such happening in Berlin.

A committee representing the prominent Association of Hotel Owners has issued a public statement addressed to persons contemplating suicide, urging them to refrain from carrying out their self-murderous designs while enjoying the hospitality of hotels and lodging houses.

While a hotel can never prevent a person from overdosing on pills or doing something worse, is there a way to keep fire escapes accessible only in case of a fire? And we used to think that hotels with windows that could open were great perks but now, not so much.