Is suicide considered a crime/illegal in the UK

[Awaytome]

Just wondering is suicide a crime here?

Being arrested just means being deprived of your liberty. So in the case of under s136 of the MHA it’s just necessary to get someone to a place of safety.

Once they’re in that place and a suitable provision is made for their care, they are dearrested

PP's are right, it takes a lot to get sectioned nowadays. Merely expressing that you wish to commit suicide is not grounds for a section on its own. If wanting to commit suicide is part of a wider mental health problem that needs treatment then yes, someone "might" be sectioned. Even then, it would be more likely they'd be seen by the community mental health team. Hope you're ok OP.

Are you ok op? Pm me if you want to talk xx

I’ve been hospitalised twice for suicide attempts. Been under various mental health teams but never sectioned.

Could you hypothetically get a DNR (or AND or whatever it's now called) in such a case?

Pretty certain aiding a suicide is illegal. Which is why there's been a slew of cases of severely ill people trying to change the law so their partner won't be prosecuted if they obtain drugs (or arrange a trip to Dignitas).

I'm sure there was a very similar thread recently that was deleted.
I hope you're ok op

So were people prosecuted for attempted suicide prior to 1961?

It's sort of relevant to me at the moment.

I'm not suicidal or anything like it at the moment. It's just something that has arisen for a friend where I'm telling her they can't take her against her will but it appears they can. And have.

And I feel like a fool for telling her to ask for help. I didn't think the help would come in the form of being brought by police to be assessed and then held in detention. She is going out of her mind. I'm trying to find some legal loophole to get her out!

Yes, the law allows intervention to protect a person who isn't in their right mind. Attempted suicide would be seen as someone not in their right mind.

Where is she being held?

I have known of people who have been assessed under the Mental Health Act, found not to have mental ill health and therefore not been detained despite a verbalised intention to kill themselves. It's rare, but it happens. I won't give too many details but it involved someone who had a terminal condition who wanted to end their life before the disease took them. The MH doctor assessed them, could find no reason to detain them and let them go. They ended their life.

So you can only be detained by the MH Act if you are at risk of harming yourself and others AND have a mental impairment which is causing this and you are unable to make reasoned decisions about your safety.

The mental health act isn't about you doing things which are illegal, it is about keeping someone safe when they are unable to do so for themselves. There are a number of laws like this.

She seems to go from being whimsically suicidal to completely normal so I don't know what to do. I don't think she would actually commit/attempt suicide, so I just find it so intrusive that police got involved.

She's in A&E at the moment with police lol.

I don't really undestand why are rhe police holding her?

So she is being assessed as she may be a danger to herself?

Ah I thought you meant she was in prison when you said detention.

Well she's in the right place, I'm not sure why you would be looking for a loophole to get her out. She needs treatment.

She has been told that she is not under arrest so she tried to leave, then they told her she can't for some law or another. That's why I'm wondering is suicide illegal here. Despite being suicidal, I would say she has capacity.

She's in A&E at the moment with police lol

Why's that funny?

She could appeal against the section she has been detained under unless its an emergency section, she should have been given a leaflet with her rights on it , but if shes been assessed as needing ro be in hospital its unlikely she would win her appeal.

Are you the friend op? As in are you talking about youtself?

Ah if shes still in A and E im assuming shes waiting to be assess ed she on a 136 ? Its polices holding power under the mental health act

No, I'm not the friend.
I just think it's bizarre that she is with police. She has done nothing wrong and is under arrest of sorts.