title: Knowing when to say goodbye: Final Exit and suicide in the elderly.
abstract: The publication of Derek Humphry's Final Exist in 1991 caused a large uproar. Although designed as a suicide manual for terminally ill persons, there has been considerable fear that the book's methods might be used by others, such as nonterminal elderly individuals who have made a "rational" decision to end their lives. This piece, a short story about an elderly couple that commits double suicide, explores rational suicide by using fiction, as opposed to a standard bioethical approach. Fiction does not provide answers, but rather highlights the ambiguities surrounding elder suicide, and reminds us to evaluate this issue in the context of individual life experiences.
authors.affiliation: Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Lerner
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*