Because the powers to be simply don't believe in an afterlife, anything and everything that prevents death is going to be vigorously pursued, even at the cost of common sense.
ALL of this is going to be the subject of a Harvard study on mass hysteria in about twenty-five years.
Doesn't the Bible talk about those who will long for death, and not find it?
C.S. Lewis likewise mentioned the despair of someone who has "length of days with an evil heart."