Suicide Methods - Starvation

Starvation

A hunger strike may ultimately lead to death. Starvation has been used by Hindu and Jain monks as a ritual method of penance (known as Prayopavesa and Santhara respectively), and Albigensians or Cathars also fasted after receiving the 'consolamentum' sacrament, in order to die while in a morally perfect state.

This method of death is often associated with political protest, such as the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike during which 7 IRA and 3 INLA POWs died in H-Blocks of Long Kesh prison. The explorer Thor Heyerdahl refused to eat or take medication for the last month of his life, after he was diagnosed with cancer.