Some colleges evicting suicidal students

[deadparrot]

NEW YORK - A depressed Hunter College student who swallowed handfuls of Tylenol, then saved her own life by calling 911, was in for a surprise when she returned to her dorm room after the ordeal. The lock had been changed on the door.

She was being expelled from the residence, the school informed her, because she violated her housing contract by attempting suicide. The 19-year-old was allowed to retrieve her belongings in the presence of a security guard.

Policies barring potentially suicidal students from campus dorms have popped up across the country in recent years as colleges have struggled to decide how to best curb an estimated 1,100 suicides a year.

But just as quickly, some of those rules have come under attack.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14626533/

[Critters2]

1. That'll solve the problem

Give her one less reason to live.

Morans.

[MrScorpio]

2. Li-a-bil-ity!

Ah, The Lawyers!

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Yep. Evicting the students means they're no longer responsible.

I wish we could legislate common sense and compassion into our legal system.

[Critters2]

5. this could backfire

if she succeded, and her lawyer argued that her eviction was the last straw, emotionally speaking. I could see a jury buying that (say, for instance, if I were on the jury).

[distantearlywarning]

6. Yeah, I might be sympathetic to that argument too

If I were the jury member. I don't think it's farfetched to think that a lot of people could be swayed by that argument. I definitely don't think that it's pragmatic in that sense for colleges to be doing that to try to avoid lawsuits.

And of course, then there's the whole moral issue of throwing suicidal students out on the street instead of helping them.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. But I can see the college's point of view, here, too - someone suicidal

really needs to be getting professional help, and perhaps also constant monitoring, neither of which the college can provide.

The college could be much more negligent in allowing a suicidal student to stay on campus - quite possibly with a roommate who will then be freaking out, and an RA who will be freaking out - than to boot them.

Keeping them on campus and pretending that nothing happened, or even keeping them on campus and offering some sort of half-assed "psychiatric chaperoning" is just as enabling as the family who don't confront their alcoholic/drug-abusing relative.

I would hope that the schools would be contacting family (parents) and doing what they can to help ensure that the student gets to a place that can help them, and I would hope that the college would keep the door open for their return after they've sought treatment, but I don't think a college should be required to keep on hand someone who has shown that they want to kill themselves.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Sadly, I think that is our only hope

but it would take the death of a student to get that sort of emotional response.

There's a matter of degree too. Had the student tried to hang herself in the communal space or tried to kill herself in a way that put other students at risk (say fire starting or explosives) then removing her from housing would be an acceptable remedy in most cases. But a suicide attempt that was neither public nor dangerous to others? That's a private medical matter.

Whatever happened to supportive services for suicidal students?

[BreweryYardRat]

3. Those stupid cumguzzlers!

Gee, maybe if the fuckwits in administration let the students stay on campus, they might have a shot at making friends and avoiding a repeat performance!