Older persons represent 13% of the USA population but committed 19% of all suicides between 1980 & 1992. White men over age 85 are at greatest risk & are the target of a Healthy People 2000 objective. This article discusses epidemiology, diagnosis, & strategies that can be used by primary care physicians to identify & treat elderly persons at high risk for suicide. It presents the case of an 81 year-old woman suffering from depression & chronic pain who jumped from her 23rd floor apartment.