The management and mismanagement of a suicidal patient.

The author begins with the premise that the actions of therapists and hospital staff can contribute to the likelihood that a suicidal patient will eventually take his life. He recounts a case history of a depressed 51-year-old man who was hospitalized following a suicide attempt and delineates eight "mistakes" that contributed to the patient's eventual suicide and that are common occurrences in dealing with a suicidal patient. He believes that if more therapists and mental health professionals share mistakes and experiences of this kind with each other, such errors might be minimized or even prevented.