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Maggi A. Budd, Omar Sultan Haque & Michael Ashley Stein, Biases in the Evaluation of Self-harm in Patients with Disability due to Spinal Cord Injury, 6 Spinal Cord Series & Cases (2020).


Abstract: Suicide is a global problem and accurate assessment of risk for self-harm is critical. Even morally principled clinicians can manifest bias when assessing self-harm in patients with physical disabilities such as spinal cord injury (SCI). Assessment of self-harm is an obligation for health care clinicians and overestimating or underestimating risk may undermine a patient’s trust in their care, possibly leading to less engagement, increased apathy about having an interest in living, and less adherence to healthy treatment options.