The legal capacity to commit suicide does not require the person to make an 'informed decision' in the sense used in testamentary capacity or medical consent contexts. A person possessing capacity may decide to commit suicide on a basis that is ill-informed or not supported by reason, provided it is the reasoned choice of the person. The appropriate analogies for assessing capacity to commit suicide are drawn from refusal of treatment cases rather than testamentary capacity. Where a person provides the means of death to another, the critical question is whether the deceased had the mental capacity to make the act of self-administration their own act. The question of whether manslaughter by criminal negligence is available where the accused intends death was raised but left open.
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