I was reading about the photo recording W’s ‘bathroom break’ note whereupon someone mentioned the security detail, and this question just popped up in my head:
If the POTUS wishes to commit suicide, is the Secret Service obligated to interfere?
I think anyone would be obligated to interfere, whether the suicidal person is the President or Joe Shmoe. Wouldn’t allowing someone to off themselves be something like depraved indifference?
I don’t mean in the general empathetic sense. But as a formal obligation.
Yes. The Secret Service’s duty is to the office of the Presidency, not the person of the President.
I remember that when Nixon was depressed, drinking too much, talking to portraits on the White House walls and acting rather erratically in the last days of Watergate, the Secret Service was rather concerned. Yes, I think any USSS agent would intervene if she was present when the President attempted to take his own life.
If nothing else, suicide is a crime, and Secret Service agents are law-enforcement officers.
You mean you remember reading about when Nixon was depressed, drinking too much, talking to portraits on the White House walls and acting rather erratically in the last days of Watergate, the Secret Service was rather concerned.
Unless…Henry?
Henry Kissinger? Is that you? :eek: 
Their job is to protect the POTUS, even from himself.
Cite?
“bathroom break” note? I missed something
:dubious:
Under the common law, there is no legal obligation to help a stranger under any circumstances.
I’ve never heard the term “depraved indifference” used, but it sounds something like negligence (otherwise known as breach of a duty of care). The first key to negligence is showing that the alleged tortfeasor owed the alleged victim some kind of duty of care. Secret Service agents have a duty to protect the president owing to their job and training. Most of the rest of us don’t have such a duty.
I meant to say: “under ordinary circumstances.”
No. Depraved indifference is short for “depraved indifference to human life,” and describes recklessness of a particularly heinous sort – an overt act, not mere inaction.
Here ya go. Is this real?
When I first saw that I thought it was obviously shopped. Then again the pointless use of a question mark could be a sign it’s real.