Current developments in health care place the nonpsychiatric physician more and more in a pivotal position regarding the identification and management of depressed and suicidal persons. It is essential that the physician resolve his own anxiety about suicide in order to function most efficiently in this role. Only when this is achieved will principles of management and treatment have value. An active case-finding approach, comparable to the routine chest x-ray film, serology, or Papanicolaou smear, is needed to effectively modify these suicidal states before they develop to crisis proportions. To further this goal, it is suggested that inquiry about depressive and suicidal states be made an essential part of every routine medical examination.