Doctor’s efforts to build Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier realized at last

Dr. Mel Blaustein remembers that when he proposed a suicide barrier for the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004, he heard only ho-hums. Erecting a suicide barrier was not popular, he said. 

Seventy-five percent of polled San Franciscans in 2005 were opposed to it, thinking it would either wreck the view of the bridge or increase the bridge tolls. 

Yet today, the Golden Gate Bridge —the No. 1 suicide site in the world, with a death toll of nearly 2,000 since the bridge opened in 1937 — finally has a barrier (along its full 1.7 mile-length) keeping the unhappy from taking an irreversible leap.  

It took all these intervening years to complete the project, primarily because of widespread and bureaucratic disapproval. 

Blaustein, a psychiatrist, was on San Francisco’s St. Francis Memorial Hospital staff for 40 years and the medical director for 25 years. He treated many ill and disturbed people of the nearby Tenderloin district.  

“I had the opportunity to interview many potential jumpers. The common belief is that jumpers come to the bridge for its romantic allure. Nearly two-thirds come to the site because it is an easy final destination with its 4-foot railing, parking lot, and bus access. It’s the fastest way to do it. ” 

Blaustein quoted one published letter to an editor: “Why blame the Golden Gate Bridge for the misguided, self-destructive impulses of the hapless souls who hurled themselves over its rails?” 

The bridge is overseen by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. For decades, its 19-member Board of Directors (representing San Francisco and five northern counties) opposed the suicide deterrent.  

Blaustein and colleagues formed an advocacy group to bring the idea to public awareness. 

“We always stressed that suicides are often impulsive but preventable and treatable. We wanted the public to appreciate that the jumpers were their neighbors,” said Blaustein, who was friends with a family whose son had leaped to his death. 

The deciding factor in the campaign’s success was the attendance at board meetings of families who had lost children over the bridge’s railing. 

“Their attendance at the board meetings with posters of their children could not fail to move the board members. I recall seeing some in tears,” he recalled. 

The parents’ comments included: “Daddy’s little girl is not coming home… The world stopped… The Golden Gate Bridge has ruined many lives, and now it has ruined mine.” 

Another persuasive move was to present to the board similar barriers around the world that had successfully prevented jumps. “We cited the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Empire State Building as examples. An international medical study found that barriers and screening by gatekeepers were the two most effective methods to prevent suicide,” Blaustein said. 

“Another misconception was that jumpers are all mental patients and that the answer to the problem is in shoring up the mental health system. No one would disagree with that. But the coroner found that nearly two-thirds of jumpers had no psychiatric history. Jumpers come from all walks of life. They include the presidents of the local medical society, the local real estate board, and the pastor of a church.”

Blaustein, a resident of Mill Valley, feels satisfaction after years of promoting this construction. He acknowledged he was one of a team of advocates he chose, including other doctors and specialists in suicidality. 

Today, the psychiatrist works at St. Mary’s Medical Center’s outpatient clinic in San Francisco. 

He looks back on the treatment of mental illness over the years with some dismay. 

On the positive side, patients are less ashamed to admit that they are seeking assistance for mental or emotional problems. “They practically wear a badge saying, ‘Sorry, I’m bipolar.’” 

However, patients are more likely to expect immediate remedies. Gone are the days when the suffering spent years on the couch reviewing their every past memory. 

Now they are coming in diagnosing themselves and asking for a prescription by name, for instance, Adderall for ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he reported. 

They will visit another doctor if they feel they are not receiving the prescription they request. 

Over the last 20 years, the Golden Gate Bridge has seen an average of 30 deaths per year, with a slight decline recently, according to Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, public affairs director for the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District.  

The barrier was designed to preserve the bridge’s aesthetic appeal. It is painted the same shade of orange as the famous span. 

While Blaustein reassures that bridge tolls did not pay for the barrier, a press release issued by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District says the approximately $224 million project was funded through federal and state grants, Proposition 63 monies, individual and foundation donations and tolls.