Citation

Sherlock R. J. Bioeth. 1983; 4(l-2): 58-70.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1983, Human Sciences Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11651759

Abstract

Sherlock offers a critique of the "new consensus" on suicide, the idea that individuals have an inherent prima facie right to kill themselves and that public policies which permit intervention are unjustified intrusions upon personal liberty. Basing his reasoning on Locke's theories, the author argues that in allowing suicide a government would violate its commitment to the equal worth of each person. He draws attention to the difficulty of determining when suicide is "reasonable," and concludes that intervention is the only clinically coherent and socially viable response to a suicidal individual.

Language: en