Right to Be Protected from Committing Suicide

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.

• 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. 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 DisabilitiesXII. 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 SuicideIV. 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

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.