“It’s for your own good”: the ethical dimension of suicide risk detection tools and of paternalistic intervention

Abstract

The impediment of individuals affected by mental illness at risk of suicide is well justified. But the impediment to rational suicide is complicated by the conflict between defending life and defending autonomy, as illustrated by the various philosophical approaches to the ethical dimension of suicide. In this article we argue that, insofar as punctual in nature and limited in scope, paternalistic intervention of the autonomous individual is also justified. To do so, we will use the distinction between shallow and deep autonomy, as well as complicating factors from recent medical literature: the question of ambivalence and the cry for help model. We will also pay special attention to the ethical implications of new strategies for risk detection that use artificial intelligence applied to social network databases like Facebook. Although preliminary evidence suggests these are effective tools, their lack of transparency, regulation and consent puts civil liberties and rights at risk.