Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States and in many other parts of the world. As such, suicide is frequently framed as a medical and public health problem for which solutions are best recommended by medical and public health authorities. While, medicalized suicide prevention strategies often resonate with traditional Christian commitments to preserve life and to discourage suicide, there is little evidence to date that medical approaches to suicide risk-reduction decrease population rates of suicide. Further, by treating suicide as a phenomenon that can be eliminated through technical managerial control, modern suicide prevention efforts construe suffering persons as carriers of risk best managed by standardized and often dehumanizing environments of care. This emphasis on the medical management of risk also erodes the clinician–patient relationship and inappropriately centers medical (e.g., systematic health screenings) rather than non-medical (e.g., access to housing) forms of response. Although, medicalized suicide prevention efforts should not be dismantled, those working to prevent suicide would do well to prioritize a positive commitment to human dignity and worth and to engage social and political systems beyond medicine and public health, while drawing on specific contributions that clinicians can offer.

中文翻译：

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保护生命还是管理风险？自杀预防和医疗控制的诱惑

在美国和世界许多其他地方，自杀是导致死亡的主要原因。因此，自杀经常被认为是一个医疗和公共卫生问题，医疗和公共卫生当局最好推荐解决方案。虽然医学化的自杀预防策略通常与传统的基督教关于保护生命和阻止自杀的承诺产生共鸣，但迄今为止几乎没有证据表明降低自杀风险的医学方法可以降低自杀率。此外，通过将自杀视为可以通过技术管理控制消除的现象，现代自杀预防工作将受苦者视为风险携带者，最好通过标准化且通常非人性化的护理环境进行管理。这种对风险医疗管理的强调也削弱了临床医生与患者的关系，并且不恰当地以医疗（例如，系统的健康检查）而不是非医疗（例如，获得住房）形式的响应为中心。虽然医学化的自杀预防工作不应该被取消，但那些致力于预防自杀的人最好优先考虑对人的尊严和价值的积极承诺，并参与医学和公共卫生以外的社会和政治系统，同时利用临床医生可以做出的具体贡献提供。