Reply To: Any Reason Not To Save A Potential Suicide?

I know this does not directly answer your question but it is related, and in my opinion, quite interesting. The minchas chinuch on the mitzvah of lo saamod al dam rayecha says that there is no mitzvah of lo saamod on someone committing suicide. His logic is from the gemara in sanhedrin (I forget where) that asks why do we need a passuk of lo saamod, why we don’t learn out the mitzvah of lo saamod from hashavas aveidah.( The gemara’s answer is not relevant.) In hashavas aveidah the halacha is that if someone throws away his aveidah, there is no obligation to return it. Thus, the minchas chinuch says, so too by lo saamod there is no mitzvah to save the person if he is throwing away his body. I have spoken to a few raabonim about this and no one was willing to pasken like this because it is quite radical and the lomdus is a bit sketchy (one has ownership over a basketball so he could throw it away, as opposed to his body), but I thought it was interesting enough to share with you once you’re on the topic.