This content requires Adobe Flash Player version
or later.
Either you do not have Adobe Flash Player installed,
or your version is too old,
or there is a problem with your Flash installation and we were unable to detect it.
Even if this Handbook meets its intended purpose of making the act of dying peaceful and reliable, this does not mean that planning for death is not complicated. It can be very complicated and things can go wrong or smoothly, depending upon the plans put in place in the days, weeks and months leading up to the act. Of course, once the person concerned has passed away, they will not be worried. But for those left behind sorting out a death can be a complex undertaking.
This chapter seeks to provide a few pointers of what to do and what not to do in the event of a rational suicide - your own or your loved one’s. To this end we discuss issues such as cleaning equipment away, suicide notes, death certificates as well as legal issues, autopsies and coronial inquiries. This chapter is not intended nor does it purport to be legal advice. For that readers must visit a professionally qualified lawyer in their local area. Rather this chapter offers some common sense advice of how to safeguard your elected death and its aftermath is least stressful for all concerned.