Suicide and public policy: a critique of the "new consensus".
Several writers have recently developed proposals calling for a public policy that would allow a number of individuals to commit suicide if they so choose. Suicide, it is argued, is a fundamental matter of personal liberty and as such only very minimal restrictions should be placed on it. In this essay I offer a critique of these views and the public policies they entail. The result is a defense of the general outlines of current professional and legal policies which permit intervention, even coercive intervention, with suicidal persons in almost every case.
D000328:Adult; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011640:Public Policy; D014481:United States; D000092864:Suicide Prevention