@article{ref1,
title="Suicide in old age: Illness or autonomous decision of the will?",
journal="Archives of gerontology and geriatrics",
year="2007",
author="Ruckenbauer, G. and Yazdani, F. and Ravaglia, G.",
volume="44",
number="Suppl",
pages="355-358",
abstract="Depression, often accompanied by suicidal behavior or recurring thoughts about suicide, is one of the most common psychic impairments in old age. Statistics in Austria tell us clearly: Suicidal candidates among the elderly are likely to succeed. Especially in men, suicide has become a significant cause of death. In an age where traditional family structures are beginning to fall apart, and where the elderly increasingly feel to be a &quot;burden&quot; to society, unable to find their place, we tend to look at suicide more and more as a voluntary and autonomous decision, thus rationalizing it as in: &quot;This life I would not want to live either&quot;. But is it permissible for physicians to consider a patient, who has acted suicidal, to be &quot;not ill,&quot; or to have acted &quot;with good reason&quot;? The present paper shall critically revisit the concept of &quot;rational suicide.&quot; What I hope to illuminate is the tension between medical care for, and autonomy of the patient that physicians have to negotiate in their work.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0167-4943",
doi="10.1016/j.archger.2007.01.048",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2007.01.048"
}