The Right to Be Protected from Committing Suicide

Zusatztext A characteristically thoughtful and elegant development of the legal and ethical case for treating those with suicidal thoughts, and the taking of reasonable steps to prevent them attempting suicide [the book is] a stimulating, important, and nuanced contribution to an area which can sometimes all too easily be portrayed in unhelpfully crude terms. Informationen zum Autor Jonathan Herring is the DW Wolf-Clarendon Fellow in Law at Exeter College and Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. Klappentext This book argues that suicidal people have the right to receive treatment and for reasonable steps to be taken that they are protected from killing themselves. Those suffering threats to life from mental health issues deserve the same protection as those who face threats to life from ill health or violence from others. The book explores the ethical and legal case for giving those beset with suicidal thoughts the treatment they need and for reasonable steps to be taken to prevent them attempting suicide. Debates around suicide tend to be dominated by cases involving those with terminal medical conditions seeking assisted dying. But of those wishing to die, it is far more common to find middle aged men and young people oppressed by mental health and personal problems. Too often the woeful failure in the funding of mental health services in the UK means that suicidal people are denied the support and help they desperately need. This ground-breaking book makes the legal and ethical case for recognising that the state and public authorities have a duty to provide and implement an effective suicide prevention strategy. Vorwort This ground-breaking book makes the case for a right to be protected from committing suicide and for recognising that the state and public authorities have a duty to implement an effective suicide prevention strategy. Zusammenfassung This book argues that suicidal people have the right to receive treatment and for reasonable steps to be taken that they are protected from killing themselves. Those suffering threats to life from mental health issues deserve the same protection as those who face threats to life from ill health or violence from others. The book explores the ethical and legal case for giving those beset with suicidal thoughts the treatment they need and for reasonable steps to be taken to prevent them attempting suicide.Debates around suicide tend to be dominated by cases involving those with terminal medical conditions seeking assisted dying. But of those wishing to die, it is far more common to find middle aged men and young people oppressed by mental health and personal problems. Too often the woeful failure in the funding of mental health services in the UK means that suicidal people are denied the support and help they desperately need. This ground-breaking book makes the legal and ethical case for recognising that the state and public authorities have a duty to provide and implement an effective suicide prevention strategy. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Introduction 2. The Definition of Suicide I. Introduction II. Popular and Official Definitions III. The Mental State IV. Causation V. Conclusion 3. The Causes of Suicide I. Introduction II. The Problems with Gathering Suicide Statistics III. International Statistics IV. Statistics for England and WalesV. Suicidal Feelings VI. Forms of Suicide VII. Seeking to Identify the Causes of SuicideVIII. Biological Theories IX. Sociological Theories X. Psychological Theories of Suicide XI. Mental Illness XII. Alcohol XIII. Religion XIV. Domestic Abuse XV. Social Inequalities XVI. Conclusion 4. Societal Responsibility for Suicide I. Introduction II. The Cultural Meaning of Suicide III. Social Causes of SuicideIV. Suicide and the Relational SelfV. Means VI. Poverty VII. Gender VIII. Age and Suicide IX. Clusters X. Conclusion 5. Ethic...

Préface
This ground-breaking book makes the case for a right to be protected from committing suicide and for recognising that the state and public authorities have a duty to implement an effective suicide prevention strategy.

Auteur
Jonathan Herring is the DW Wolf-Clarendon Fellow in Law at Exeter College and Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford.

Texte du rabat

This book argues that suicidal people have the right to receive treatment and for reasonable steps to be taken that they are protected from killing themselves. Those suffering threats to life from mental health issues deserve the same protection as those who face threats to life from ill health or violence from others. The book explores the ethical and legal case for giving those beset with suicidal thoughts the treatment they need and for reasonable steps to be taken to prevent them attempting suicide.

Debates around suicide tend to be dominated by cases involving those with terminal medical conditions seeking assisted dying. But of those wishing to die, it is far more common to find middle aged men and young people oppressed by mental health and personal problems. Too often the woeful failure in the funding of mental health services in the UK means that suicidal people are denied the support and help they desperately need. This ground-breaking book makes the legal and ethical case for recognising that the state and public authorities have a duty to provide and implement an effective suicide prevention strategy.

Contenu

1. Introduction 2. The Definition of Suicide I. Introduction II. Popular and Official Definitions III. The Mental State IV. Causation V. Conclusion 3. The Causes of Suicide I. Introduction II. The Problems with Gathering Suicide Statistics III. International Statistics IV. Statistics for England and Wales V. Suicidal Feelings VI. Forms of Suicide VII. Seeking to Identify the Causes of Suicide VIII. Biological Theories IX. Sociological Theories X. Psychological Theories of Suicide XI. Mental Illness XII. Alcohol XIII. Religion XIV. Domestic Abuse XV. Social Inequalities XVI. Conclusion 4. Societal Responsibility for Suicide I. Introduction II. The Cultural Meaning of Suicide III. Social Causes of Suicide IV. Suicide and the Relational Self V. Means VI. Poverty VII. Gender VIII. Age and Suicide IX. Clusters X. Conclusion 5. Ethics and Suicide I. Introduction II. What is the Question? III. The Principle of Autonomy IV. Autonomy and Welfare V. Capacity, Autonomy and Suicide VI. Autonomy Issues: Limits VII. A Duty to Commit Suicide? VIII. Duties Towards the Suicidal: Drawing the Th reads Together IX. Conclusion 6. Human Rights and Suicide I. Introduction II. Rights and Duties III. The Positive Duty to Protect the Right to Life IV. Does Suicide Infringe the Right to Life? V. What Does the Duty Require? VI. The Universal General Duty VII. The Particular General Duty VIII. Specific Operational Obligations to those in the Care of the State IX. Breach of the Duty X. Duty to Investigate XI. United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities XII. Conclusion and the Way Ahead 7. The Current Law on Suicide I. Introduction II. Criminal Law Offences Prohibiting Suicide or Assisted Suicide III. Criminal Offences for Failing to Prevent Suicide IV. Mental Health Law V. Mental Capacity Law VI. Suicidal Children VII. Conclusion 8. Prevention of Suicide I. Introduction II. The Case for Prevention III. The Case against Suicide Prevention IV. Developing Suicide Prevention Policies V. Universal Interventions VI. Selective Interventions VII. Individual Interventions VIII. Problems in Preventing Suicide IX. Current Approach in the UK X. Conclusion 9. Euthanasia and Suicide I. Introduction II. The General Debate on Assisted Dying III. The Starting Point IV. The Right to Die V. Dealing with Hard Cases VI. False Positives and False Negatives VII. Conclusion and the Right to Die Debate 10. Conclusion