Helping a patient with suicidal ideation: an ethical perspective

Abstract

To be or not to be" is a well-known monologue from Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The monologue reflects the internal mental conflicts that many people face in complex situations. Although we are not all protagonists of a play, everyone faces plenty of ethical dilemmas in their daily life. Ethical dilemma occurs when a moral problem involving two or more mutually exclusive, morally correct actions. 1 Indeed, healthcare practitioners also face plenty of ethical dilemmas in practice. It is crucial for healthcare practitioners to have a mindset that is legal, ethical, and socially responsible, 2 because their decisions influence the outcome. Very often healthcare practitioners and patients have different perspectives of views on the same issue. Bioethics is a set of moral principles that practitioners should follow, but these principles can conflict with patient autonomy. An example case 3 has been selected from the literature because it provides an example of a common encounter of ethical dilemma in clinical practice (Box).