Introduction: Historically, suicide has usually been condemned on religious grounds and subsequently was largely medicalised. The advancement of life-sustaining technologies in the 20 th century, on the one hand, and the increased emphasis on patient autonomy on the other, raised the issue of the right to voluntary death in a particularly acute way. Along with it the discussion of rational suicide came to the fore and was defended as the outcome of a competent decision made on the basis of the person’s fundamental interests and values. It poses the questions whether unbearable emotional suffering is a legitimate ground for granting the right to die and how we should conceive its altruistic variety, which is motivated not by self-interest but by others’ wellbeing. Background: The general conceptual framework of the analysis is the current bioethical and biolegal discussion, which is focused on issues as autonomy and the problematic nature of suffering as a reason for voluntary death. Materials and methods: An attempt is made to investigate this hypothesis, using the 2009-2018 NCPHA database to analyze suicidal activity in the 70+ group compared to other age groups. The lethality of the method and the motives for suicidal actions are compared. Results: Each of the suicide methods had a high mortality rate in this age group. Conclusion: Suicide should be considered in the context of different age groups, and especially in the case of the elderly rational considerations need to be taken into account.