Abstract

BENITEZ CAMACHO, Érika. Bioethical implications in the «contagion effect» of suicide. Med. ética [online]. 2022, vol.33, n.1, pp.163-204.  Epub July 31, 2023. ISSN 2594-2166.  https://doi.org/10.36105/mye.2022v33n1.04.

Suicide is a serious public health problem in Mexico and the world, which, according to the World Health Organization, claims the lives of around 800 thousand people. Despite the fact that self-induced death is of multifactorial origin, the recognition of the various risk factors and the social co-responsibility in them is of utmost importance. In particular, the «contagion effect» of suicide is a phenomenon that has yet to be explored, not only from the perspectives of health sciences or communication, but also from bioethics. For this reason, this article not only describes the «contagion effect» of suicide, but also analyzes the bioethical implications of the influence that exposure to the news by the media have on self-caused death when the ethical guidelines of the World Health Organization are not followed.

Keywords : Suicide; «contagion effect» of suicide; mental health; media; social vulnerability.