To the Editor: The medical view, which is repeatedly stated in the literature,1-3 is that up to 100% of those who complete suicide are suffering from a mental disorder. This leaves many doctors feeling they can be held responsible for all those who suicide, including those for whom there is no evidence of mental disorder. A recent High Court of Australia judgment, Stuart v Kirkland-Veenstra,4 illustrates that the medical and legal views of the relationship between suicide and mental disorder are different.
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- University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS.
Correspondence: spridmore@iprimus.com.au
- 1. Robins E. The final months. A study of the lives of 134 persons who committed suicide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
- 2. Bertolote J, Fleischmann A, De Leo D, Wasserman D. Psychiatric diagnoses and suicide: revisiting the evidence. Crisis 2004; 25: 147-155.
- 3. Ernst C, Lalovic A, Lesage A, et al. Suicide and no axis I psychopathology. BMC Psychiatry 2004; 4: 7.
- 4. Stuart v Kirkland-Veenstra [2009] HCA 15.
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