Suicide By Cop Research Paper

Words: 2021
Pages: 9

Abstract
Mental illness is common underlying risk factors for suicides with over ninety percent of suicide victims have some form of mental health or substance abuse issues. For a suicidal person, the means of achieving his or her goal differ. Some, on the one hand, chose to commit suicide themselves. Others, on the other hand, chose to commit the act through the involuntary participation of others—like the police. Suicide-by-cop (SBC) is a phenomenon that has far reaching implication for the law enforcements agencies, the society, and the interaction between the society and the law enforcement. Here, we present an aborted case of suicide-by-cop in a young 25 years old Caucasian Eastern European male immigrant presently living in the United States. We discuss the evidence for SBC; and conclude that
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Z. was transferred to the inpatient psychiatric unit for further stabilization two days later, after he was medically cleared. Per Mr. Z’s own account, he reported to be from New York and had been suffering from depression and posttraumatic stress disorder most of his life for which he was recently placed on 200mg of quetiapine and 20mg of duloxetine orally daily, by his psychiatrist, in New York. He also reported a past medical history of Wolf Parkinsons White Syndrome and colon cancer that was diagnosed when he was 14 years old. He came to Washington, DC, he reported, for a friend’s funeral and with the hope of staying here permanently because some family friends were living in the area. He also reported to have recently broken up with his girl friend and confessed to have taken 20 tablets of quetiapine, 30 tablets of diazepam, an unquantifiable amount of metoprolol, along with half a bottle of vodka, in a suicide attempt. This was Mr. Z’s eight or nine suicide attempts by overdosing. Treatment records were obtained from his previous mental health professionals and a history of borderline personality disorder was brought to light from these