title: Suicide, suicide litigation, and borderline personality disorder.
abstract: In the category of malpractice liability affecting mental health practitioners of all disciplines, malpractice based on suicide is the leading claim by a significant margin. Our discussion here will be organized in two sections. First, we consider the theory, practice, and psychology of malpractice litigation itself in relation to suicide. Second, we describe how those basic principles apply to patients with borderline personality disorder.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry and Program in Psychiatry and the Law, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Harvard Medical School, Brookline, MA 02446, USA. gutheiltg@cs.com
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Gutheil
mesh_terms: D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States; D000092864:Suicide Prevention