Is trying to commit suicide against the law?

Question

is it? question is, a friend of mine tried commiting suicide and ended up in the hospital. The time he was there, he had a police officer ther the whole time, doing updates and such. after being released from the e.r. the police officer escorted him to psych and told him that he would have to either sign voluntarily to the psych ward or that he would take him to court and would be forcefully put in.

That confused me and made me think, does that mean its illegal to try killing yourself? thats what my dad had told me, but im very unsure about it. my friend didnt have to follow up with the police after that, he just now see's a case worker / manager psychiatrist and councelors as a contract he signed to be released from the psychiatric hospital

Answer 1

Yes, but only if you live.  

Answer 2

Only failing at it is against the law, unless they also happen to have cops in the afterlife.

Only by making it against the law can they give cops the right to take people to get the help they need. Otherwise, how would anyone have the right to stop someone from committing suicide?

Answer 3

Yeah but it's easy to get away with it...

Answer 4

In the United States, suicide has never been punished as a crime.  Although historically, most states in the past had laws on the books against suicide, by the early 1990s only two US states still listed suicide as a crime, and these have since removed that classification.  Suicide can, however, bar recovery for the family of the suicidal person in a lawsuit and can also bar recovery of insurance proceeds depending on the terms of the insurance policy.  

Although a person who has successfully committed suicide might be thought to be beyond the reach of the law (since they are dead) there could still be legal consequences for anyone who was aware of the intent to committ suicide and did not take any action.  And assisting in suicide is still a crime.

The reason that the Court wanted to force you into psychological treatment was to make sure you were not a danger to yourself or others.  The intent was to protect you and to protect those around you.  

The EEOC enforcement guidance on psychiatric disabilities limits the questions asked of any applicant about any psychiatric disability.  For example, an employer cannot ask if you have undergone psychiatric evaluation.  So I would say no, you do not have to tell your employer or prospective employer that you attempted suicide or that you have had psychiatric counseling.

For more information on what employers can and cannot ask and what you are required to tell them, check out:  pacificu.edu/offices/hr/.../pdfs/LegalOr...

Answer 5

It seems to me that if you're going to go Thur the trouble of trying to kill yourself just go ahead and do it then you won't have to go Thur all this BS!  I don't think it's illegal to try but if you don't succeed they will put you in the nut house as some sort of last resort to try to save the persons life. I alse believe a person who trys this isn't really trying to kill themselves anyway they are just crying out for help or attention.

Answer 6

Suicide, and thus attempted suicide, is not illegal. Although, as you know, you can end up involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility.

Answer 7

Yes, it is illegal to try suicide. There is no penalty, however, if you succeed.

This is one of the few crimes where you can get punished for failing.

The big loser in a suicide is almost always the survivors who may have loved the guy for one reason or other.

They almost always feel terrible guilt that they could not help the guy and that he didn't love them enough to want to stay around with them or ask for their help.

Suicide is a very selfish and cowardly thing to do..

BTW: It's interesting that twice as many women attempt suicide as do men but 4 times as many men succeed at it.

I know a woman who attempted suicide 3 times and never managed it. She kept trying pills when all she had to do was take the elevator to the top floor of a downtown building and try flying across the street.

Answer 8

beleive me, your friend like millions of others before and perhaps after him, didn't attempt to commit squat...if you really want to kill yourself

you really do...dead, dead as a doornail.....if he were serious...he would have  succeeded....he didn't want to die in the first place, really feeling rotten, scared,misrable, unhappy, are just emotions, deal with it

All the so called attempted suicides, are a cry for ATTENTION PERIOD

and its against the law if your caught...should be checked in the bah bah house, for those obvious loose screws...get treatment..happy pills

and carry on...Attempted aiding of a suicide is also illegal...Jack K.

remember him ? hes out of jail now,,,,,,,,so don't think about helping your weak buddy there....be his friend...but that stuff...walk away