Yesterday, on Monday, June 6, the bodies of Dominador C. Labrador Jr., 60, and Maria H. Labrador, 52, were found by their 21-year-old son, Steven, when he arrived at their home in Columbus, Ohio, shortly after 8 pm.
A note that was left behind revealed that the couple had planned and followed through with a murder-suicide driven by financial issues. Having already filed for bankruptcy in 2003, Dominador and Maria were facing a new onslaught of economical and health tragedies with the high costs of treating their illnesses of cancer and diabetes, according to an unnamed source.
Both of them worked at Express Scripts, a company that provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services. In 2012, it merged with another similar company, Medco, and with that came a decent union-based insurance plan. But now, the company, which is in the top 20 of the Fortune 500 list, is attempting to save money by potentially forcing its employees to accept new, lousy terms that will do nothing except put more money into the pockets of the CEO.
Workers at Express Scripts, most of whom are on a two-tier wage system with some making only $9 per hour, would face exponential increases in their out-of-pocket costs if the company gets their way. For someone with serious diseases like cancer or diabetes, the prices could be potentially devastating.
Seeing no light at the end of the tunnel, and possibly worried their illnesses would only get worse without decent benefits, Dominador and Maria chose to end their lives.
This is a choice no American should ever have to make. And unfortunately, this is not an isolated event.
Suicide rates have risen about 40 percent since 1999 among Americans in midlife and older, with a sharp rise since 2007. Over 37 percent of documented suicides are now due to economic reasons.
The Great Recession, and the financial environment it created, has taken an extreme toll on those who aren’t members of the top 1 percent. A statement on the website of the American Association of Suicidology notes that “there is a clear and direct relationship between rates of unemployment and suicide.”
And a somewhat recent group of debtors now faces one of the harshest economic climates ever—student graduates.
Jason Yoder studied organic chemistry at Illinois State University and incurred over $100,000 in debt. He struggled to find a job in his field and sank into a deep depression as a result. Not being able to pay his debts, he went into one of the labs on his former campus and ended his life via nitrogen asphyxiation.
To make matters worse, student debt collectors were calling his grieving mother, and probably still are to this day, asking about the money Jason owed while she was making plans for his funeral.
It may seem innocent enough—a company seeking to save money, or a bank charging 9.5 percent interest rates on student loans—but the cost people pay as a result should never be their own lives.
Yes, it is a personal decision a person makes when they commit suicide, but being driven to do so because of debt caused by unfair business practices is disgraceful. It is something our country should be ashamed of, and it is something that politicians should be fighting to stop.
When big banks single-handedly cause a massive economic meltdown and get a slap on the wrist and when selfish companies attempt to screw over their employees while millions of Americans are forced to bear the burden and often turn to the last resort of ending their lives, it is time to step up and say, “Enough is enough.”
Allowing this behavior to continue is allowing the 1 percent to commit murder. We must recognize and rectify this tragedy. We must encourage our representatives to enact policies that will make the banks and the companies accountable for their actions and give all Americans the same opportunity to live prosperous, long lives.
Corporate greed is no longer a liberal catchphrase. It’s a public health crisis.