Main description:

When should we try to prevent suicide? Should it be facilitated for some people, in some circumstances? For the last forty years, law and policy on suicide have followed two separate and distinct tracks: laws aimed at preventing suicide and, increasingly, laws aimed at facilitating it.

In Rational Suicide, Irrational Laws legal scholar Susan Stefan argues that these laws co-exist because they are based on two radically disparate conceptions of the would-be suicide. This is the first book that unifies policies and laws, including constitutional law, criminal law, malpractice law, and civil commitment law, toward people who want to end their lives. Based on the author's expert understanding of mental health and legal systems, analysis of related national and
international laws and policy, and surveys and interviews with more than 300 suicide-attempt survivors, doctors, lawyers, and mental health professionals, Rational Suicide, Irrational Laws exposes the counterproductive nature of current policies and laws about suicide. Stefan proposes and defends specific reforms,
including increased protection of mental health professionals from liability, increased protection of suicidal people from coercive interventions, reframing medical involvement in assisted suicide, and focusing on approaches to suicidal people that help them rather than assuming suicidality is always a symptom of mental illness. Stefan compares policies and laws in different states in the U.S. and examines the policies and laws of other countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including the
2015 legalization of assisted suicide in Canada. The book includes model statutes, seven in-depth studies of people whose cases presented profound ethical, legal, and policy dilemmas, and over a thousand cases interpreting rights and responsibilities relating to suicide, especially in the area of
psychiatric malpractice.

Contents:

Series Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Chapter 1: "Sane" and "Insane" Suicide: The Law of Competence
Chapter 2: The Right to Die, Involuntary Commitment, and the Constitution
Chapter 3: Assisted Suicide in the States
Chapter 4: International Perspectives in Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia
Chapter 5: Assisted Suicide and the Medical Profession
Chapter 6: Mental Health Professionals and Suicide
Chapter 7: Types of Suicide
Chapter 8: Discrimination on the Basis of Suicidality
Chapter 9: Prevention and Treatment: Policy and Legal Barriers
Chapter 10: Conclusion: People with Psychiatric Diagnoses and Assisted Suicide

Appendix A: Model Statutes

Appendix B: Survey of People Who Have Attempted Suicide
1. Survey: Experiences with Suicide
2. Final Results of Survey

Table of Cases
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index