P. J. Stolk: Suicide: is it justified to help?
Nowadays it sometimes is claimed that man has a right to suicide. Psychiatrie workers sometimes seem to doubt if they are obliged to help in suicidal situations.
Partly as a result of this the risk of suicide in psychiatric hospitals is unacceptably high.
In fact a right to suicide is an abstraction. This article deals with a number of factors which seldom are taken into account during the discussions about suicide.
If the patient declines treatment, more often than not the reason is uncertainty or lack of concern in the therapist.