Permitting Suicide of Competent Clients in Counseling: Legal and Moral Considerations

This paper explores the moral & legal dimensions of a counsellor’s decision not to intervene in cases where mentally competent clients desire suicide as release from irremediable suffering due to severe physical illness, & where this desire is defensible within these clients’ value systems. The concept of “permitted suicide” is introduced & defined, & guidelines for its application are developed.