In my opinion the better question to ask would be "Why is it not okay for depressives to kill themselves?" The taboo is related to a very specific suicide. When an individual has brain cancer it is euthanasia, when the individual has depression it is suicide.
I wanted to bring up the difference between suicide and euthanasia, I think it's critical to understanding the issue culturally.
DFW wrote a lot of Infinite Jest three blocks south of me and across the street from the coop where I buy groceries. It is still kind of eerie walking by the house with a bag of groceries.
I'm a proponent of allowing people to make that choice when they have the wherewithal do so. Someone who is dying of a painful terminal illness, etc, end of life is no one's choice but yours. But the suicidally depressed person can't make that decision rationally. It's like making any decision under the weight of extremely strong emotion, only it's an order of magnitude more powerful than what most people will experience in their lives. The suicidal person is ill, and needs help. It's the fact that they can't find help that brings them to suicide.