Student Suicides

Suicide among adolescents has increased dramatically in the United States over the past 40 years. A 1991 Maryland case, Eisel v. Board of Education of Montgomery County, recognized a cause of action against a school district and its employees for failing to warn parents of a student's suicidal ideations. However, in the years since Eisel, most courts have ruled that school boards and their employees are not legally responsible for a student's death by suicide. This entry briefly examines the issue of student suicides and then looks more closely at education-related lawsuits.

A Rising Problem

Between the late 1960s and late 1990s, the teen suicide rate went up dramatically in the United States, particularly for adolescent males. According to a 1999 report from the U.S. surgeon general's ...

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