Suicide

Diabetes

LINLEY
I got access to the medical records of Mary Ann Ellis.

WOODS
Did she take any medication for mental illnesses?

LINLEY
No, but Mary Ann Ellis had Type 1 Diabetes.

WOODS
Does her husband David have diabetes as well?

LINLEY
I think so! When I visited him he ostentatiously ate bread without yeast in front of me.

WOODS
Bread without yeast? Is that real?

LINLEY
Yes, it is real. It originated from Turkey's Black Sea Region!

WOODS
Oh, okay. But I saw the social media profile of David Ellis. A lot of photos of him in which he is broadly smiling while pretending to eat candy. He shows a lot of his bleached teeth and oddly enough his feet. Almost every second photo of him is about his teeth and his feet. Is David a foot and teeth fetish or something?

LINLEY
A lot of diabetics feel uncomfortable about their disease. They want to be perceived as healthy. On social media, many diabetics ostentatiously pose in front of sweets and all the meals a diabetic can't eat. A diabetic can be recognized by their teeth and their feet. Because of their conditions, diabetics' teeth and toenails get black when they eat sweets or a meal high on carbohydrates. Therefore diabetics are obsessed with their feet and their teeth.

WOODS
And eggs? In a couple of photos, David Ellis poses with a pan of scrambled eggs.

LINLEY
It gets life-threatening to diabetics when they eat scrambled or poached eggs.

WOODS
What should we make of this?

LINLEY
Mary Ann didn't post photos of her pretending to eat eggs. This indicates that she thought differently about her disease.

WOODS
Is diabetes a taboo?

LINLEY
It is because in public the perception persists that diabetes is self-inflicted. This is not true, since many people have Type 1 Diabetes, which means that one is born with this disease.

WOODS
Maybe Mary Ann killed herself because she couldn't have a normal life?

LINLEY
There are ways to cope with the disease, like taking insulin. Many diabetics eat sweets like healthy people, but diabetics have to take insulin after a sweet meal.
Mary Ann and her husband were well-off, they could effort insulin shots. I don't think that Mary Ann was bothered by not being able to eat sweets but by something else.

WOODS
Of what?

LINLEY
Mary Ann went a couple of times to a gynecologist, Dr. Rose James. I talked to Dr. James and she told me that Mary Ann had problems getting pregnant. Dr. James told me:
- Many women who have diabetes are struggling to get pregnant.

WOODS
Does this mean diabetes affects fertility?

LINLEY
Yes. Dr. James knew Mary Ann closely:
- Mary Ann was distressed. She wanted to have children. We tried every method, but without success. By the time Mary Ann got distressed with me. This is common. When the treatment doesn't lead to success patients mostly blame the doctor.

WOODS
If Mary Ann became desperate because she couldn't have children, this may have led to her suicide.

LINLEY
But why did she kill herself in public? Diabetics keep their disease secret. If Mary Ann would have killed herself publicly because she couldn't have children due to her condition, she must have known that people would find out about her condition. Mary Ann worked for the Mayor's Office, this meant that all eyes were on her. Priest Darkshadow noticed Mary Ann's absence in Sunday church. People in this town probably knew that Mary Ann had diabetes. No matter how many times one poses with sweets and eggs, people who have diabetes or know diabetics know what these photos on social media are all about.

WOODS
But if so many people know that David has diabetes he must have gotten a hint or something. That's not something you can hide from close friends and family and people talk.

LINLEY
My aunt has diabetes. She is the only one in our family. She loves us but she doesn't like hanging out with us because she cannot eat everything we eat and she can't bear watching us while we eat food she cannot eat. My aunt is married to a man who has also diabetes. Diabetics don't like to be around non-diabetics and they invest a lot of time and effort to create a public persona to appear healthy. These public personas are mostly very convincing. You would be surprised how many celebrities and politicians have diabetes, but successfully concealed it from the public. Diabetes is not something people like talking about openly and publicly, at least not without harming their reputation.
David is a locally well-known architect in this town and Mary Ann worked for the Mayor's Office. They have to be careful how they are being perceived, their career depends on it.

WOODS
So, you are saying that David may know that people are aware of his condition but he still keeps up the charade for career reasons.

LINLEY
Of course, personal considerations play an important role as well. David posts a lot of photos of him pretending to be healthy, Mary Ann did not. This is an indication that David pays more attention to his public perception than Mary Ann did. Even though Mary Ann worked as a secretary in the Mayor's Office. Mary Ann probably met more strangers during her working hours than David does. As an architect, David is most of the time around his colleagues and peers.

WOODS
This can as well as mean that Mary Ann probably couldn't talk with David about her condition, since he kept pretending that everything was alright.

LINLEY
It is possible because Mary Ann told David that she does not want children, despite she visited frequently a gynecologist to help her get pregnant.

WOODS
The taboo put a barrier between her and her husband.

LINLEY
I think so because diabetics mostly hang out with fellow suffers and live in a state of denial, like my aunt. She never wanted to talk about her condition. She was embarrassed whenever it was mentioned. On rare occasions when my aunt would visit us, my mum would prepare a special meal for her, but my aunt would flush and keep reiterating: "Oh, this was not necessary. I can eat with the kids. Everything is alright with me, it's just my stomach, it aches a little!"

WOODS
I see, but what was the reason for Mary Ann's suicide then?

LINLEY
We'll have to dig deeper.