Every Social Security award letter, determination, decision,
and notice should include information about suicide hotlines or online
communities that provide immediate prevention aid by trained professionals
Attorney N. David Kornfeld, writing in the Social
Security Law Section of the Federal Bar Association’s newsletter expressed the
hope that researchers will be funded to study the issue of whether there is “an increased rate in suicides by
Social Security disability claimants or recipients.”
Kornfeld stated
that his “working
thesis continues to be that there is a suicide epidemic which is only getting
worse with increased denials and increased waiting times in the Social Security
disability process.”
Kornfeld called
upon the Social Security Administration to engage in suicide prevention and
awareness efforts by adding information in every Social Security award letter,
determination, decision, and notice. He said that every communication from
Social Security should include information about suicide hotlines or online
communities that provide immediate prevention aid by trained professionals
including the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255, also
available in Spanish 1-800-784-2432).
This article
was cited by Charles Hall in his blog, http://socsecnews.blogspot.com/
Social Security News of The Social Security Law Section of the Federal Bar
Association can be found at http://www.fedbar.org/Image-Library/Sections-and-Divisions/Social-Security/Winter-2016.aspx.
See pages 10-11, 22-23.