Year: 2002 Source: Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, v.9, no.2, (2002), p.146-150, SIEC No: 20040316

This article proposes an ethically justified forensic approach to extended suicide associated with major depression. Extended suicide is the phenomenon of murder of a family member(s) by a suicidal person when the murder is viewed as a way to protect the victim(s) from a life of suffering. The effects of depression on autonomy & particularly on evaluative under-standing are reviewed. Implications for the clinical management of depressed patients who commit extended suicide are discussed. (16 refs)