New Patient Safety Standards on Suicide Prevention

Depression is a serious illness that can cause suicidal thoughts and, in severe cases, result in suicide attempts.  Often, health care providers are in a position to prevent depressed patients from carrying out suicide attempts until treatment for depression or other underlying issues can take effect.

If patients are admitted to a health care facility because of a suicide attempt or other imminent danger, they are usually admitted to a special care unit that should take precautions against suicide.

But there are other patient safety risks for patients who may not have attempted suicide.  The hospital setting itself can be a place where the patient has access to tools or other implements to carry out a suicidal act.  As The Joint Commission notes in a recent report:

It is noteworthy that many patients who kill themselves in general hospital inpatient units do not have a psychiatric history or a history of suicide attempt – they are “unknown at risk” for suicide. Compared to the psychiatric hospital and unit, the general hospital setting also presents more access to items that can be used to attempt suicide – items that are either already in or may be brought into the facility – and more opportunities for the patient to be alone to attempt or re-attempt suicide. This Alert presents strategies that can be used and suggested actions that can be taken by general hospitals to help better prepare their staffs and their facilities for suicidal patients and to care for both their physical and mental needs.

 It is important that hospitals take precautions to prevent against suicide, both in specialized psychiatric treatment settings, as well as in general inpatient and emergency units.  Depending on the circumstance, these precautions include removing any instruments that could be used to inflict self-harm, maintaining continuous line-of-sight monitoring, and ensuring proper medication regimens.


For patients that are at "unknown risk" for suicide, health care providers need to properly screen the patient as a risk reduction strategy.  This includes checking for symptoms of acute depression or other behaviors that suggest risk for suicide.

If you, or someone you know, is depressed and contemplating suicide, please get help immediately.  Call 1-800-SUICIDE, or if the threat is imminent, dial 911.

If a family member has committed suicide while under the care and treatment of a health care provider, it may have been because risks were not properly assessed and the patient safety rules were not followed.  Depression is an illness just like any other disease and when it is not properly treated, it is medical malpractice.  The Utah medical malpractice lawyers at G. Eric Nielson & Associates  can discuss the circumstances of the case with you and advise you of your legal options.  Call today for a free, no obligation consultation with a licensed medical malpractice lawyer: 801-424-9088.