¶ … Suicide," an act of suicide is defined as an event when "an otherwise healthy victim has, without any outside pressure, willfully arranged the circumstance that brought around his or her death." The process of clearly defining circumstance and actions that constitute suicide is essential to medical providers, mental health workers and many social service and public providers who are charged with caring for the health and safety of other individuals. Without a clear definition of suicide it can be difficult, if not impossible for these providers to fulfill their ethical and professional obligations to care for sick individuals or prevent crisis or emergency situations that may result from that which is truly suicidal behavior. Doctors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists in health clinics, hospitals, and outpatient settings are expected to care for their patients and make efforts to safeguard their health and wellness. These providers are often required to protect suicidal patients from themselves if they exhibit to do harm to themselves. The process of treating a patient becomes focused on stabilizing their behavior in order to resolve the greater psychological or social issues that are triggering suicidal acts or behaviors. If the definition of suicide or suicidal behavior is too broad providers will be left to intervene and treat patients in situations when medical or mental health intervention is neither appropriate nor productive. If, for example, a patient is terminally ill, suffering in pain, and elects to refuse further treatment that...

While one can argue that a depressed drug addict may be placing himself at risk by ingesting intoxicating substances, a doctor or psychologist will most likely not make a great deal of impact with the individual by using methods intended to for suicide intervention. If the individual does not have the intention to harm himself or and end his life these interventions are simply not applicable or appropriate. Another example offered in the article was that if extreme athletes taking part dangerous activities such as skydiving or bungee jumping. While we know a danger exists with these activities, a doctor or therapist would likely want to explore this person's interest in high-risk activities and ways to assess if their behavior was functional or dysfunctional in the context of their life. Making the assumption that this person is purposely seeking to harm himself can be a potentially huge error, leading to improper treatment. Providers are, thus, given a very clear definition of what does and does not constitute suicide in order to guide their interventions and practice of health and mental health services.
"Whose Life is it…