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Note Rights and Liabilities

Suicide Note Rights and Liabilities

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By their very nature, suicide notes are controversial documents.  Nobody likes to think or talk about them, despite accompanying many – probably most – of the suicides that occur in America.  There were 34,598 reported suicide deaths in 2007 alone, making it the fourth leading cause of death for adults aged 18-65.

So, where to begin?

Who owns the note

A Slate article from 2008 states that either the medical examiner or sheriff “controls the contents” of a suicide note.  While true, Eugene Volokh notes that this does not resolve the issue of ownership.  The imperative to investigate deaths grants the government custody over the note, but not title to it; the note, like other personal property, becomes part of the deceased’s estate to be disposed of by will or intestacy under the relevant state’s law. (It would be particularly interesting to see how this issue would resolve in a community property state.)...

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Relationship Themes in Suicide Notes

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Years ago I worked in a psychiatric emergency room in a large metropolitan hospital. My job consisted of evaluating a steady stream of patients to determine whether they should be hospitalized or sent elsewhere.

I saw people in the throes of mania, psychosis and suicidal depression. I still remember the man who asked if I was a witch who would place a spell on him. And the woman who came barreling at me down the hallway, warning, “You best get out of my way, or I’m going to go Ninja Turtle on your ass!” I remember the man who swallowed six bedsprings in a suicide attempt. And countless others with bandaged wrists, bruised necks, and broken souls. I learned a lot about the breadth and depth of human suffering.

One day I was waxing philosophical about suicide with one of the charge...

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