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American Morning
Family of MIT Suicide Discuss Lawsuit
Aired January 28, 2002 - 09:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The big question this hour: Should schools be held accountable for student suicides? Today, one student's family is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Two years ago, Elizabeth Shin committed suicide in her MIT dorm room. Her family claims the school should have told them about their daughter's suicidal thoughts and is guilty of medical malpractice and gross negligence. The college, for its part, denies any wrongdoing.
Joining us now from New York, Elizabeth's parents, Kisuk and Cho Hyun Shin. And from Atlanta, Iris Bowlton, with the National Resource Center for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare.
Thanks very much for being with us.
Very sorry for your loss and sorry you have to be here under those circumstances.
Did you know your daughter was thinking about suicide?
KISUK SHIN, ELIZABETH'S MOTHER: We had absolutely no idea. And up to the last minute, we didn't have any little clue whatsoever.
COOPER: Had she had suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide in the past?
K. SHIN: We didn't know. We didn't know. We completely -- was a shock to us.
COOPER: There was indication from statement your lawyer made that in high school she had had some emotional problems.
SHIN CHO HYUN, ELIZABETH'S FATHER: That was only revealed when they had an incident about a year prior to the tragedy. But that was only revealed during the conference they had with the doctor. When we heard she had thought like that, it was shocking news to us.
COOPER: You saw your daughter shortly before her suicide.
C. SHIN: Just a day before.
COOPER: Any indication?
C. SHIN: There was no indication whatsoever. COOPER: There's a statement the university has released that I want to read and then ask your comments on. MIT has said, "The death of Elizabeth Shin was a tragedy, for this bright young woman, her family and friends, and all those at MIT who tried to help her. But it was not the fault of MIT or anyone else who works at MIT. According to the information provided by family's own lawyers, she had suffered from serious emotional problems that began at least as early as high school. Many people at MIT had offered as much help and support as they could to her. While MIT regrets the need to do so, it will defend against the claims that have been brought against it and the members of its community that had tried to help her."
Why are you suing the university?
C. SHIN: If I can answer that, first of all, this tragedy happened to us and should happen to nobody's family. Only if we found out early enough -- or even a day before, when we were visiting her -- if we knew something like this was going on, we could have intervened. We could have done anything possible to stop this tragedy. But upon finding all these records from the school that there was so many red flags flying, there was so many in circumstances that school knew about, we never had one phone call, and no one has told us what was going on.
COOPER: Iris Bowlton, let me bring you in to the discussion. What is -- in your opinion -- the school's responsibility? I mean, if a student is seeing a therapist and admits to the therapist suicidal thoughts, is it the therapist's responsibility to tell someone else about it?
IRIS BOWLTON, NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION AND AFTERCARE: There are confidentiality laws that protect a university or any other place or any therapist, but that only is applicable if there's no intention for immediate harm. So it may be that some of the laws need to be changed, because this happens in a university where the therapist or the friends know; it's a matter of education and perhaps changing the laws, because if there is an intent of that person, and they share with a therapist or someone -- teacher, faculty member -- the parents should be called.
So it's a very fine line between the confidentiality -- does the therapist believe that person is going to do it? Many youngsters hide that. They don't tell. They're very good actors and actresses. It's a fine line as to whether you must keep that confidentiality or whether you must call the parents.
COOPER: It is a tough call. In a therapeutic setting, a patient would perhaps not talk about suicidal thoughts if they felt that their therapist would tell someone else about it.
BOWLTON: Exactly right. There are hotlines in this country that can help. There's the 1-800-SUICIDE hot line that youngsters can call -- college students, anyone, adults, can call and find the nearest crisis center to their location. And we need to educate people and help them understand there's help out there. There may be an impulsive suicide. It may have been planned. It may be a clinical depression that causes that person to do that. But we have to educate.
COOPER: How prepared are universities to deal with students who are having emotional troubles? I'm not talking about MIT in particular, but universities across the country?
BOWLTON: I think it's difficult. They are just really becoming aware that this is a major problem. It's the second leading cause of death for university and college students, and that's not well-known. Now there is a whole effort, a national strategy for suicide prevention that is trying to work toward all ages, and this is one of the ages that people are focussing on, and at our National Resource Center for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare in Atlanta, we are supporting that. There's a National Council for Suicide Prevention with 12 of the most wonderful organizations in the country, trying to prevent it and work with survivors as well and educate so that we can deal with this issue, just what you are talking about today.
COOPER: Ms. Bowlton, thank you for being with us. Mr. and Mr. Shin, I'm, again, sorry for your loss, and thank you very much for coming this morning.
K. SHIN: Thank you.
C. SHIN: Thank you for having us.
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