ABSTRACT
Why did Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda kill himself? He intended to be dead,
that is unequivocal. The mode of death was suicide. We know how he died.
Yet we do not know, “why he killed himself” and “why at that particular time.”
The most widely accepted evidence-based, peer-reviewed, published method to
answer these and many more questions is the psychological autopsy (PA). (It is
also not novel science.) It is a retrospective investigation. It is nothing less
than a thorough study of the intention of the decedent, such as the Admiral’s
intent. This has not been allowed; the Navy has steadfastly refused to release a
comprehensive public report, or the suicide notes (there were a reported two),
and so on. Justified secrecy prevailed. What could we learn? In addition, how
different this way of handling a suicide is from how the suicide of President Bill
Clinton’s deputy White House counsel, Vincent Foster Jr. was handled. There
was no secrecy, but visibility. Well-respected experts undertook a psychological
autopsy, and a public synopsis was released. Foster’s suicide note was made
publicly available. I here reprint the full text:
