The Common Rule, Child Suicides and the Psychological Autopsy

Hi everyone, Happy New Year.

I have finished a draft of a law review article discussing whether the proposed changes to the federal Common Rule governing human subjects protection would permit a universal program of psychological "autopsies" of children who have committed suicide.

This is a work in progress, but here is my thesis:

"This paper proposes two universal prospective studies, utilizing a technique called the psychological autopsy, one of all child suicides, and another of all school massacre assailants, in the U.S. This article argues that provisions contained in the 2015 proposal to revise the federal Common Rule governing human subjects protection would make these studies more feasible, especially provisions concerning public health surveillance and certain interview procedures, as well as a provision for centralized IRB review. However, such research is associated with more than usual hazard, and should be conducted with great care."