Citation

Fernández P, Coverdale J, Brookbanks W. Psychiatry Psychol. Law. 2002; 9(2): 146-150.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1375/pplt.2002.9.2.146

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article proposes an ethically justified forensic approach to extended suicide associated with major depression. Extended suicide is the phenomenon of murder of a family member(s) by a suicidal person when murder is viewed as a way to protect the family member(s) from a life of suffering. The effects of depression on autonomy (decision-making capacity) and particularly on evaluative understanding are reviewed. Autonomy-based implications of major depression are inconsistent with legal and clinical assessments based on a threshold concept that defendants either absolutely appreciated the moral wrongfulness of their actions or did not appreciate such consequences. Forensic responses should alternatively be based on clinical assessments that delineate the level of impairment of autonomy over a continuum. © 2002 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Language: en

Keywords

decision making; evaluation; forensic medicine; forensic science; homicide; human; major depression; medical assessment; medical ethics; morality; review; suicide