Rational suicide among older adults: a cause for concern?
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Updated: Nov 6, 2026

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
1Department of Nursing and Allied Health, Mount Royal College, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Abstract:
Society is collectively having to examine questions it has never had to face before and nurses are frequently confronted with the difficult issue of whether suicide can or should be a rational choice for older adults. They may be faced with the question of whether an older person should ever be restrained from suicide. Arguments for and against rational suicide are highlighted and the author makes the case for a rational approach to the affirmation of life, rather than its rejection, even to the very end.
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