The Grey Area

    Regarding the law and the internet, there is bound to be a very large grey area that exists between the laws on the books and the practice of enforcing those laws.  In the case of suicide and medical ethics, which already has substantial preexisting confusion, this zone is bound to be rendered even more ambiguous.  In the situation where a person diagnosed with major depression reads a personal blog of a medical student providing information for mentally competent, terminally ill people on how to commit suicide, who then commits suicide herself citing such information as useful to her carrying-out of the act, certain specifics need to be addressed.
    Regarding medical ethics, the most likely area that would have any relevance to this situation is the act of physician-assisted suicide, although this in itself is a stretch because, by definition, neither is the medical student a physician nor the suicide a patient even if that student was indeed a physician.  The former point negates the entire argument, and would leave it up to the medical school to decide disciplinary action.  But, lets say, the physician’s oath extended into the pre-M.D. ethics as well, or, that the medical student is considered a practicing physician. The question then becomes “Does this person count as a patient?”  This seems to be the relationship that current medical ethics regarding this issue is predicated on; that, in the doctor-patient relationship, assisted suicide relates to four specific areas of intervention:

1. active, involuntary: the physician intentionally kills a patient contrary to the wishes of the patient
2. active, voluntary: the physician intentionally kills the patient in accordance with the wishes of the patient
3. passive, involuntary: the physician lets the patient die by refraining from interventions, contrary to the wishes of the patient
4. passive, voluntary: the physician lets the patient die by refraining from interventions which would be useless in any case, in accordance with the wishes of the patient  (University of Illinois)

None of these covers the kind of indirect relationship noted above in the girl’s suicide in the strictest sense of the ethical code, even if the student was counted as a practicing physician.
    An extension of this argument could be put forth for the parents. The pertinent question for them would be “Did they directly cause their daughter to commit suicide?”  The specifics of this question depends upon the state criminal laws cited, so lets look at a specific state, say, Oregon (which has been in the news for assisted suicide, at least in the medical context).  Aiding or causing a suicide falls under the law for manslaughter in the second degree, which is a felony, so the criminal sentencing for this offense in fact extends across the county.  According to the state of Oregon, this felony offense is defined as such if a “person intentionally causes or aids another person to commit suicide” ("OregonLaws.org).  Here, again, the emphasis is on intention.  If the family did not intentionally act to promote the girl’s suicide, they cannot be convicted of the crime under which aiding suicide falls.  Now, are they bad parents for allowing her to have unrestricted web access?  This is another very large grey zone, with individual and off-the-books morals coming into play.  If she was thirteen, you would probably say they had some responsibility as parents, but if she was nineteen and just happened to be living with them you would probably say their responsibility was far less.  In any case, although you could perhaps reproach them, you could not convict them.
    As for the girl, was it her responsibility?  Suicide by definition does mean killing oneself, but responsibility implies knowledge of right and wrong, which are themselves unstable concepts.  The rightness or wrongness of suicide is something up in the air these days.  However, lets assume for the sake of argument it is undoubtedly wrong.  If she was suffering from depression severe enough to drive her to suicide, is she a person capable of deciding if she should do the right thing?  If so, and if she is in such despair, why should the wrong thing hurt her more than the disease?  I don’t have the answers to this, and most people would probably admit the same.

Works Cited:

"Topics: Physician-Assisted Suicide." University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 13 Feb 2011. <http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/ethics/suicide.htm>.

"Manslaughter in the Second Degree." OregonLaws.org. Robb Shecter, n.d. Web. 13 Feb 2011. <https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/163.125>.