Year: 1992 Source: Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, v.22, no.1, (Spring 1992), p.1-14 SIEC No: 19920445

This paper attempts to provide converging perspectives on death & suicide from the standpoints of both the external observer & the elderly person. An interpretation of the statistical pattern is followed by a critique of current policy proposals for limiting society’s response to the needs of vulnerable people on the basis of a “natural life span”. Studies of elderly people themselves reveal a great diversity of attitudes toward death that is not well served by generalizations & stereotypes.