Well put MrsBW ("the world would be a simpler place if people stopped getting offended on behalf of others quite so quickly and just concentrated on what offended them personally").
Can see where the 'offended' view might come in, but really, truly, had never thought the description "committed suicide" was so different from "taken own life" that one could offend and other is "approved".
I'll bear it in mind, but if someone had taken their own life (and it happened in the case of the son of some friends earlier this year) then discussions either completely avoid the subject or (if family wanted to discuss situation) would be done without (in my case) any implication of what was once a crime.
Suicide is an awful action, and I'm not going to imply some moral judgement, so if someone reads into 'committed suicide' as such a judgement, it's in their own head, not mine. Feel sure that in dictionary definitions the phrase would never suggest lawbreaking.
Just put the phrase in a search engine and here are some extracts of the results I saw:
Found On: Google, Yahoo! Search "A suicide method is any means by which a person purposely commits suicide, .... It is impossible for someone to commit suicide by simply holding their breath, ..."
Found Exclusively On: Yahoo! Search "So you're thinking about committing suicide. That is, I figure you probably are if ..."
Seems there are a number of sites which use the phrase (and suggests the Samaritans have some work to do, if they consider it insensitive or offensive).