MEDICAL, SOCIAL, AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDE

The increased frequency of suicide among the various causes of death makes it too important to ignore as a medical problem. The depressions that lead to suicide are not prevented by threats of either secular or eternal punishment; often they are the results of organic brain disease, occupational injuries, nutritional deficiencies, or intoxications. Popular attitudes, present laws, and the policies of insurance companies also work unjustified hardships on survivors, contribute little toward prevention, and impede the collection of accurate data. Persons who attempt suicide often receive inadequate treatment. During the emergency stage an anesthesiologist can be most helpful. Later the services of a psychiatrist are essential, his chief challenge being to estimate the likelihood of a second suicidal effort. Society should soon be sufficiently mature to deal with this problem more logically than it has in the past.