Suicide stream?: Facebook 0, Justin.TV (now Twitch) 1 (that we know of)

A man in his last days wanted to stream those last days to the world, or at least on Facebook. He was met with an old fashion ban hammer and could not do so.

Alain Cocq, 57, from Dijon in eastern France, has a rare incurable medical condition that causes his arteries to stick together.

He estimates he will only have days to live after stopping all medication, food and drink, which he planned to do on Friday evening.

Cocq had intended to broadcast his dying days on the platform, to raise awareness about France's laws on assisted dying.

In a statement Saturday Facebook said the live stream was prevented to avoid promoting self-harm. "Our hearts go out to Alain Cocq for what he's going through in this sad situation and everyone who is personally affected by it," the company said in the statement."While we respect Alain's decision to draw attention to this important issue, we are preventing live broadcasts on his account based on the advice of experts that the depiction of suicide attempts could be triggering and promote more self-harm." -- CNN

Although "assisted suicide" is a no-go in France, stopping medical treatments is not, and that's exactly what Alain Cocq aims for.

"I would like to make it clear to you that on this day I find myself in a situation of having on sound mind, confined in a dysfunctional body, crippled by suffering," he wrote in the letter, which has been seen by CNN.

"Would you withstand, Mr President, having your intestines emptied into a pouch, having your bladder emptied into a pouch and that you are fed by a pouch, that a third party must bathe you, to be crippled by unbearable pain?" Cocq wrote in the letter.

This would not be the first suicide went "online" from a streaming perspective. In 2008 a nineteen year-old committed suicide on Justin.TV (now known as Twitch or Twitch TV), broadcasting to around one-hundred-eighty-five people. This stream was not banned, but only after.

Justin.tv viewers comment as Florida authorities recover the body of a teen who committed suicide live on the internet.
A 19-year-old Florida teen's suicide broadcast Wednesday on Justin.tv was a result of an overdose of opiates and benzodiazepine, the Broward County Medical Examiner & Trauma Services Division said Friday.

The Pembroke Pines teen was pronounced dead about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, coroner spokeswoman Sherri Baker said in a telephone interview. She said benzodiazepine is used for depression and insomnia. -- Wired

While I'm still not clear why one would want to stream such an act to thousands and millions of people, I am clear in I don't encourage anyone to do such a thing.

Please stay safe! Have a good day!

found story via Slashdot