site during the Great Depression following media reports of a suicide there. Copycat suicides in the ensuing years prompted the erection of a protective fence surrounding the crater. Cutting and stabbing A fatal self-inflicted wound to the wrist is termed a deep wrist injury, and is often preceded by several tentative surface-breaking attempts known as hesitation wounds, indicating indecision or a self-harm tactic. For every suicide by wrist cutting, there are many more nonfatal attempts, so that the number of actual deaths using this method is very low. Wounds from suicide attempts involve the non-dominant hand, with damage often done to the median nerve, ulnar nerve, radial artery, palmaris longus muscle, and flexor carpi radialis muscle. Such injuries can severely affect the function of the hand, and the inability caused to carry out work or interests increases the risk of further attempts. Seppuku is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour. It is not often used in the modern day because it is painful and slow. Drowning Suicide by drowning is the act of deliberately submerging oneself in water or other liquid to prevent breathing. It accounts for less than 2% of all suicides in the United States. Of those who attempt suicide by drowning in the US, about half die. Starvation and dehydration A classification has been made of Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED) which is often resorted to in terminal illness. This includes fasting and dehydration, and has also been referred to as autoeuthanasia. Fasting to death has been used by Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain ascetics and householders, as a ritual method of suicide known as Prayopavesa in Hinduism; Sokushinbutsu historically in Buddhism; and as Sallekhana in Jainism. Cathars also fasted to death after receiving the consolamentum sacrament, in order to die while in a morally perfect state. This method of death is also associated with the political protest of the hunger strike such as the 1981 Irish hunger strike in which ten prisoners died. Death from dehydration can take from several days to a few weeks. This means that unlike many other suicide methods, it cannot be accomplished impulsively. Those who die by terminal dehydration typically lapse into unconsciousness before death, and may also experience delirium and deranged serum sodium. Terminal dehydration has been described as having substantial advantages over physician-assisted suicide with respect