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Rational Suicide and the Law

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Rational Suicide in the Elderly

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Abstract

When therapists encounter elderly patients who express an apparently rational desire to end their lives, they will very likely have legal concerns about their management of such patients. While those who end their own lives have committed no crime, those who assist them in doing so may be held criminally liable for doing so. Assisting a suicide usually means that a person has actively provided the means for someone to end his life. It does not include discussing suicidal thoughts or plans. As five states have legalized physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill under certain conditions, some suicides are rational and legally acceptable. Therapists face some risk of being held civilly liable when treating competent elderly persons who have expressed a desire to end their lives, but this risk can be managed by careful professional practice.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA, 95053-0310, USA

    Lawrence J. Nelson Ph.D., J.D.

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  1. Lawrence J. Nelson Ph.D., J.D.
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Correspondence to Lawrence J. Nelson Ph.D., J.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

    Robert E. McCue

  2. Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

    Meera Balasubramaniam

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Nelson, L.J. (2017). Rational Suicide and the Law. In: McCue, R., Balasubramaniam, M. (eds) Rational Suicide in the Elderly. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32672-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32672-6_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32670-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32672-6

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