The Story Behind The Samaritan’s Patient
by Chevron Ross
In 2024, I published a novel about a teenage girl who creates a discussion website for troubled young people like herself. Though her intentions are honorable, some visitors turn it into a forum on ways to commit suicide.
My source for this idea was a PBS Newshour broadcast on December 16, 2021, about a real website similar to the one in the novel. The difference was that the site’s creators went out of their way to encourage suicide.
The site was thoroughly investigated by two New York Times reporters, Megan Twohey and Gabriel Dance. In the broadcast, they described how people would click on the site and talk about their problems. Unbelievably, responders frequently urged the writers to kill themselves and offered advice on methods ranging from guns to hanging to poisonings. At least 45 cases of suicide were directly linked to this website, which was drawing six million views per month and contained 1.2 million messages. Most of the suicide victims were 30 years old or younger.
The news story disturbed me so much that I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. A novel began to take shape in my mind. In preparation for it, I visited the suicide website and discovered that it was not necessary to create an account. There were no login requirements, age limits, or other restrictions. I copied dozens of conversations for use in the novel but changed the names to protect the identities of those participating in the forum.
Meanwhile, the news story was spreading throughout the United States and internationally, forcing the site’s creators to move it to a new internet location. At the time of this writing, that site is still active, although it is now full of disclaimers warning visitors not to encourage people to take their lives. It also requires a login account. But the site’s title, which I will not reveal here, continues to reflect its original purpose.
The Samaritan’s Patient deals with the fallout from the innocent girl’s website and how she tries to make atonement. It has a Christian theme and contains no explicit sex or offensive language.
The PBS news story runs about eight minutes and thirty seconds. To view it, Click Here.
For purchase information about The Samaritan’s Patient, Click Here.
To learn more about the Chevron Ross novels, Click Here.